


The Value of a Heart (A Hobo Heart FanFiction)

by LunariaTaisho



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom
Genre: Creepypasta, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 21:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8260382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunariaTaisho/pseuds/LunariaTaisho
Summary: People say that death is a part of life. No one knows that better than Thanatos, the God of Death, except perhaps, his daughter. What happens when Death's Daughter meets Death's Heralds, also known as the Creepypastas. (Also posted on Deviantart on my Mizuki-Tsume account.)





	1. Chapter 1

Jeff smirked as he climbed through the open window and carefully straddled the sleeping woman. Since the only light came from the sliver of moon, he could only make out a pale face and long, dark hair. He laughed quietly at how stupid the woman had been to leave her window open like that. It only made it that much easier to kill her.

The woman shifted slightly and frowned as she slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him. He raised his knife above his head and grinned.

“GO. TO. SLEEP.” The woman sighed.

“I was asleep until you woke me up. If you’re going to kill me, just do it already. If not, then get out so I can get back to sleep. I have to work tomorrow.” Jeff tried to frown and the woman closed her eyes and seemed to fall back asleep. Then he shrugged and plunged his knife down into her heart. He laughed as her eyes flew open and a silent scream tore her mouth open. He twisted the blade as he pulled it out of her body and then plunged it back into her over and over again. Her hot blood splattered everywhere with each thrust of the knife. He giggled madly as he watched the light fade from her eyes and her breathing stopped. Once she was dead, he wrote “GO TO SLEEP” on her wall with her own blood, wiped her blood off his knife on her pillow and climbed back out of the window.

Like every night, Jeff bragged to the others at the mansion about his latest kill. BEN shook his head as he heard Jeff bragging about how the woman he had killed had begged for her life and even offered him sex if he spared her. Jeff expected there to be a huge story about his killing the young rich woman.

Slenderman sighed as he thought of the mess this would create for the rest of the “Creepypastas” as the humans called them. He had warned the children to stay away from high profile people unless they were assigned to kill them. The manhunt for the person who had killed someone important would be huge and their master would not be pleased.

The next morning, Jeff was eagerly waiting for the news of the young rich bitch’s death to be announced. He was very disappointed when there was no mention of the murder. It wasn’t on the news or in the papers, but he just shrugged and figured that the body hadn’t been found yet.

Nyx sighed as she washed the last of the blood off of the wall. Dying was a pain, but waking up after dying was both a pain and that time frustrating. She shook her head as she rubbed at her chest to ease the lingering pain from healing. After the pain stopped, she grabbed her black bedding and headed down to the laundry room.

“Well, this nightie is ruined.” She sighed again as she started the washer, grabbed the stain remover, and headed back to her room to wipe the last of the blood off the waterproof mattress cover. Once that was done, she headed to the bathroom, took a nice hot shower, bundled up the bloody nightgown and panties, and shoved them in a plastic bag before heading back into her room to get dressed for work. “At least it wasn’t my favorite nightie.”

Nyx shook her head as she grabbed the bag with her ruined clothes and tossed it in the burn barrel she kept in the back corner of the basement. She sighed again as she saw how full the burn barrel was and knew she was going to have to drag it outside to burn it when she got home from work.

“The last two weeks have really been hell on my clothes.” Nyx laughed as she headed up to the laundry room to toss the bedding into the dryer before grabbing some fresh bedding, heading upstairs again and making the bed. By the time she finished making the bed, her housekeeper had arrived and had started making her breakfast.

“Mrs. Kirkpatrick, you know you don’t have to come in this early every day.” Nyx smiled at the woman who had served her family since she before she had been born. In a way, the old housekeeper was more of a mother than her own mother had been.

“If I didn’t come over every morning, you would skip breakfast all together and have your secretary order your lunch from the deli. You work too hard, young lady.” Nyx laughed and kissed the old woman’s cheek.

“You know me too well. But promise me that you will take your full vacation time this year. You’ve refused to take a vacation for the last two years and I want you to take the full three months off.” Mrs. Kirkpatrick hasn’t taken any of her vacation time since Nyx’s mother had died two years ago.

While Nyx’s mother was alive, Mrs. Kirkpatrick would take two weeks off three times a year to go see her children and grandchildren. She would spend spring break with her daughter, Phyllis, Thanksgiving with her second son, Michael, and New Years with her eldest son, Kevin. Nyx didn’t like that she had missed out on seeing her children and grandchildren these last two years.

“I promise, Nyx. My travel plans are all set for tomorrow. I just don’t like thinking of you being alone for so long.” Nyx smiled and shook her head as she sat down at the table.

“I’ll be fine. I do know how to cook and clean. Don’t worry about me.”

“Alright, Nyx.” Mrs. Kirkpatrick sighed as she poured Nyx’s morning tea and set a plate of bacon, eggs and toast in front of her. “Just be careful. There have been a lot of murders in the surrounding area lately and I don’t want anything to happen to you, dear.”

“I promise to be careful. Don’t worry about a thing, just have a good time with your family, ok.” With a sigh, Mrs. Kirkpatrick nodded and headed out of the kitchen to start cleaning. Nyx shook her head as she polished off her breakfast, rinsed off the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

She called out her goodbye to Mrs. Kirkpatrick before grabbing her purse and heading out to her car. When her mother had died, Nyx had considered selling the advertising company that had been in her mother’s family for generations, but decided that she needed to have something to do. She didn’t want to be one of those rich girls who spent their whole lives drifting from one vacation spot to another with one man after another. Her mother had been like that until her grandfather died, leaving her mother the company.

That’s how she ended up with Nyx. It was during her fourth trip to Italy that she became pregnant. She had been drunk most of that vacation and didn’t even know the names of the men she had slept with. Nyx hadn’t found out who her father was until the night her mother died. 23 years was a long time to go without knowing who your dad is.

Nyx shook her head as she pulled into the parking garage and smiled at James, the parking attendant. She waved as she drove back to her parking space and turned the engine off. Once she had grabbed her purse, she locked the car doors and headed for the elevator.

The morning was tiring and frustrating for Nyx. She had a new potential client coming for a meeting to see what her company could offer in the way of advertising for their gaming company at one. Parsec Productions was coming out with a new video game in their popular Slender Man series and were sending a Tim Wright and a Brian Thomas as representatives to see the finished proposal.

When she had been approached about the potential client, she had spent days researching, and even playing the first two games. She had looked up all the information she could find online about the game, the company and the mythos behind the game. Her research inevitably led her to watching the “Marble Hornets” and reading some of the “Creepypasta” stories. The fact that the two representatives had the same name as the two characters from the “Marble Hornets” YouTube videos had seemed odd to her, but both names were very common names.

She had instructed one of her best designers, Beth, to have the finished presentation on her desk no later than ten that morning. However, by eleven thirty, the presentation was still not ready. Nyx spent her whole lunch break working with Beth to finish the presentation. It was a close one, but between the two of them, they managed to pull it all together in time for the meeting.

It was difficult for Nyx to tell from the two men’s expressions if they had liked the presentation or not. They told her that they would contact her in a few days and let her know. Nyx smiled as she walked the two men down to the front door of the office. After they had left, Nyx headed out for a late lunch. All the work on the Parsec Production project had gotten her thinking about the man who had killed her last night. Something about him had seemed familiar but she couldn’t put her finger on where she might have seen him before.

As she waited for her lunch to arrive, she pulled out her phone and opened her web browser. She typed “Go to sleep” Killer in the search and was surprised to see that the first result was a YouTube video for Jeff the Killer, one of the Creepypastas she had read about. She pulled up some pictures of what Jeff was supposed to look like, they didn’t really do him justice. While he had very white skin, it hadn’t seemed to be stretched taunt like in some of the pictures. His carved in smile hadn’t been bleeding and it didn’t look like scars, it seemed more like his grin had been stretched wider, but not Joker like. She hadn’t been able to tell what his eyes looked like, as his dark color hair had been long and had partially shaded his face. With a sigh, Nyx put her phone away as the waiter brought her chicken fettuccine alfredo and garlic bread to the table.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful and Nyx was glad to be home. After putting her purse in the closet, she headed into the basement and grabbed the burn barrel. In less than five minutes, she had the fire going was stood there watching the last fourteen days’ worth of ruined, bloody clothes burn.

“You know, if you would just do what you’re supposed to do, you would have so many outfits ruined.” Nyx rolled her eyes as she looked over at her dad. His olive toned skin stretched over a handsome young face, broad muscular shoulders, and washboard abs. The black leather vest he wore didn’t hide much, and the matching leather pants were as tight as a second skin. His long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail that reached the middle of his back and his silver-gray eyes looked like liquid mercury.

“Thanatos, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” He sighed and shook his head.

“Really, Nyx, can’t you call me Dad?”

“Why, you weren’t here to raise me.”

“I’m sorry Nyx, I didn’t know about you until I came to collect Megara’s soul. As I told you before, I would have been here if I had known about you.”

“I doubt things would have been any different if you had been here. After all, Death is even busier than a rich heiress who’s only concern is the latest fashion and how many men she can sleep with.” Thanatos shook his head and sighed.

“I would have been here for you, Nyx. After all, you’re my only child.”

“That you know of.”

“I know you’re my only child as Megara was the only woman I slept with. It’s not often that I have the opportunity to interact with living people.”

“Sorry, I know that it must be hard for you, but it’s not easy to just accept everything that’s happened.”

“Yeah, I understand that, sweetie. Most people don’t have to deal with dying every day. And you wouldn’t have to either if you would just do what you’re supposed to, Nyx. It pains me to see you suffer every day like this.”

“I’m not going to kill someone just so I don’t have to die every day, Dad. I’ll live, they won’t.”

“I’m not asking you to go out and kill innocent people, Nyx. You could use your abilities to help people.”

“That still makes me a murderer.”

“Not if you just mark them. You wouldn’t be killing them.”

“Marking them for the Furies is still killing them, Dad. I would know that they would be alive if it wasn’t for me.”

“Sweetie, please listen to me. If you don’t stop dying soon you’re going to lose your mind and then it will be too late to pick who you kill.” Nyx sighed and rubbed her forehead. “You know you aren’t going to be able to live here much longer either. People are going to notice that you aren’t aging. I wish you would come live with me, then you wouldn’t have to move every few years.”

“I can’t do that, Dad. I wouldn’t be able to stand the isolation. As for marking people for the Furies, I’ll think about it, ok.”

“Alright. I just worry about you, Nyx.”

“I know. And it seriously sucks that I’m forever stuck looking 23, most people don’t take me seriously because of my age.”

“Unfortunately, all immortals are trapped at the age they were when they died the first time. Just be glad you didn’t die as a kid. There has been a couple of kírykes tou thanátou who have been stuck as children.”

“Kírykes tou thanátou?”

“Heralds of death. I hear they are now known as “Creepypastas” by the humans, at least the ones who are real go by that name. They take care of killing the humans that the Furies don’t have time to go after.”

“So that really was Jeff the Killer who murdered me last night.”

“I will have to talk with Leptó Ánthropos, Slenderman as he is called now, about this.”

“So Slenderman is real as well?”

“Yes, he is in charge of keeping the others from drawing too much attention. Most of them only go after the humans on the death list I give to Slenderman, but some like to do a little extra work. Jeff the Killer is a young kírykes tou thanátou and from what I have heard, a bit of a braggart. I have not actually talked with Slenderman in six or seven years. He is not aware that I have a daughter.” Nyx shook her head and sighed as the fire in the barrel dwindled.

“This is a lot to take in and I have yet to die today. Hopefully today will be a peaceful death instead of being murdered.”

“You will probably be murdered again. The deaths will keep getting worse as time goes by. Being murdered every day is what will cause you to lose your mind.”

“Great. Well, I’m going to bed, Dad. I have to work tomorrow. I’ll talk with you later.”

“Alright, Nyx. Get some rest and please consider what I have said.” Nyx nodded and smiled slightly as Thanatos kissed the top of her head. “I may not have been here to see you grow up, Nyx, but I still love you. You are my precious daughter.”

“If anyone saw us together they would think we were either lovers or half-siblings. Dad, you only look a few years older than I do.” Thanatos grimaced at that the thought of people thinking they were lovers.

“What a disturbing thought to know that people would think we were lovers. Siblings is acceptable, but unlike some of the Gods of old, incest is not something I find interesting.” Nyx shuddered. “It is a good thing that the other Gods have long since left.”

“Yeah, I’ve read some of the stories about the Greek and Roman gods. Some of them were down-right sick.”

“It is what power and boredom will do to someone. Which is why they left. They grew bored with the humans and went to find another planet to build. The only ones who stayed were Hades, Persephone, the Furies and I. Someone had to watch over the dead, though Hades and Persephone now live on Olympus instead of in the Underworld.”

“Ok, my head is going to explode if I take in any more information. I’m going to bed now.” Thanatos chuckled and kissed Nyx’s forehead before teleporting away.

Nyx shook her head and put the lid on the burning barrel before heading up to her room. She sighed as she changed into another nightie and laying down. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep.

Eyeless Jack sighed as he headed back to the mansion. His target for the night had not been home and his stomach growled with hunger. As he walked silently through the dark towards the forest that hid his home, he came across a large house. It was close to the forest and he had seen it several times during his hunts, but he hadn’t taken much notice of it before. However, he was starving and he had finished the last of the human organs at the mansion the night before.

“With a house that size, there must be at least four people living there. One kidney from each wouldn’t kill them.” He tilted his head as he thought, then nodded. He silently crept up to the house and tried the back door. He smirked under his mask as the door silently opened.

He crept through the house and up the stairs, peered into each room and was disappointed to find them all empty. His hunger was getting so bad that his stomach hurt. By the time he reached the last room, he was ravenous. He eased the door open and peered into the room. There was a woman sleeping in the bed. He crept closer as she rolled over in her sleep. Her blanket was on the floor and the short black nightie she was wearing had ridden up, leaving her long legs, her white panties and her lower stomach visible. One of her hands was resting on her stomach while the other was draped over her face.

Eyeless Jack swallowed as he eyed where her kidneys were located. He pulled his scalpel and his needle with the numbing serum out and silently moved over to the bed. He gently inserted the needle and pushed the plunger, forcing the numbing agent into her. He glanced up quickly as she whimpered in her sleep. Finding that she was still sleeping, Eyeless Jack carefully made an incision and reached inside her. The scent of her blood made his mouth water. In less than a minute, he had located her kidney and carefully cut it out.

As hungry as he was, Eyeless Jack wasted no time pushing his mask to the side and taking a bite of her kidney. He moaned quietly as the flavor exploded on his tongue. Her kidney was the best that he had ever tasted. Eyeless Jack was startled as he heard a soft gasp. A quick glance showed him that the woman had woken up and was staring at him as her hand covered the bleeding wound.

Before he even really processed the thought, Eyeless Jack used his scalpel to slit her throat. As he watched the woman bleed and clench at her throat, he finished eating the first kidney and cut out her other kidney. The woman watched him eat her other kidney as the light faded from her eyes and her blood covered hand fell from her throat to lay half off the bed, dripping blood onto the linoleum covered floor. Once he was done eating her kidney, Eyeless Jack gathered her other organs to eat on his way back to the mansion.

As he left the house, he felt a little bad for killing the woman as she wasn’t the one he had been told to kill. However, her organs were by far the best he had ever tasted and he wasn’t one to pass up a treat like that.

p a treat like that.


	2. Chapter 2

Slenderman paced in front of his desk as he waited. When he had received the message that Thanatos was going to stop by, Slenderman had started to worry. While he and the other heralds of death were immortal, Thanatos was still able to kill them, permanently. As the god of death, nothing could escape him if he chose to take them. It had been years since Thanatos had visited and the last visit had not gone well. Thanatos had killed three of the children. They had drawn too much attention with their recklessness, and Slenderman was worried that Jeff and Jane’s rivalry would cost them their lives.

The tall, pale, faceless man rubbed his temples as he thought of the countless messes the children had created with their rivalry. He had thought that the worst of the damage had been averted by BEN’s “Creepypasta wiki” page where the “fictional stories” were posted. Most people believed that the stories were all fictional, but there were some people who believed they were real, hence the mess that happened with those two girls in Wisconsin. Had the humans not taken care of those two, Slenderman would have personally killed the two girls.

Thanatos shook his head as he watched Slenderman pace. It was obvious to him that Slenderman was worried about the visit. He sighed as he realized that he should have visited more often, and not just when there was a problem that needed cleaning up.

“Slender, old friend, calm down and take a seat.” Slenderman turned to see Thanatos leaning against the bookshelf. “You and yours aren’t going to die today.”

Slenderman nodded and sat behind his desk as Thanatos settled in the chair across from him.

“To what do I owe the honor of your company, Thanatos?” Thanatos laughed.

“That is almost exactly what the last person I visited asked.” Thanatos shook his head. “And the last person I visited is the reason behind this visit, old friend.”

“How so?” Slenderman tilted his head as Thanatos sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“It seems that young Jeff killed someone he wasn’t supposed to last night. Usually, I wouldn’t care that he killed an extra person or two as long as he was discrete about it. However, the young lady he killed is very special.”

“I do apologize for Jeff killing the young lady. I take it that her death caused a lot of problems.” Thanatos laughed grimly and shook his head.

“No, not really. I just dislike it when my daughter gets murdered.” Slender gulped and shook his head.

“I was unaware that you had a daughter.”

“Have, Slender. I have a daughter. I also have a bit of problem that I was hoping you could help me with.”

“If there is a way I could be of assistance, please let me know.”

“You see, I only found out about my daughter two years ago when she and her mother both died in a car accident. I, of course, had come to collect her mother’s soul as that was the only soul listed for collection. Needless to say, seeing both women dead had me curious and after taking a better look at the woman whose soul I was supposed to collect, I remembered her from twenty-four-years prior as the woman I had a one night stand with. I quickly realized, as I watched the other woman heal and start breathing again, that I was looking at my own daughter.”

“Ah, I see why her being killed did not really cause a problem then.”

“Well, her being killed last night didn’t cause a problem. There is a problem though. As my daughter, once she died her immortal blood and powers were released. Since she is the daughter of death, she is supposed to bring about death. However, even though I explained this to her, she refuses to kill or cause the death of any humans.”

“I see, that is problematic as she is denying her powers. They could go out of control if she does not start using them.”

“They already are.” Thanatos sighed. “Since the first time she died, two years ago, her powers have been causing her death every day. I fear that it will not be too much longer before she loses her mind. If she loses her mind she will be an unstoppable killing machine who can only die by my hand. No one, not even you and the other heralds will be safe if she does snap and I do not want to be forced to kill my own child.”

“Does she not know this?” Slender shook his head at the thought of another person who would be able to kill the heralds.

“I’ve told her and she is thinking about my advice to just mark wicked humans for the Furies, but she is resistant to the thought of killing humans. Each death has been worse than the last one and each time she heals is just as painful as the way she died. Last night, however, was the first time she was murdered. I fear she will continue to get murdered until she either accepts what she must do or goes insane. No one is supposed to experience death more than once in a lifetime. She has already experienced it 715 times. Well, tonight will make it 716 times.”

“It is surprising that she has not already snapped.”

“Well, Nyx is very responsible and level-headed. She was forced to grow up too soon as Megara wasn’t the kind of mother who was actually there. From what I’ve learned, the housekeeper was more of a mother to my little girl. I honestly think that the only reason she hasn’t snapped is because of the old woman.”

“I am unsure how I can help you with this.” Thanatos sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“There are two things you can help with. The first is making sure that the other heralds leave her alone. She’ll still die, but it will be by human hands and not immortal hands. Hopefully she will realize that she would be doing the world a favor by ridding the world of a few of that type.”

“That is easily done. I shall call a meeting as soon as they come home. And the other thing I can help with?”

“I need you and the others to get to know her. She’s going to outlive the few friends she has. If she has immortal friends who also kill people, she may feel more comfortable with killing people as well.”

“I cannot promise to be her friend, but I can promise that the others and I will get to know her. I cannot make her like the others nor can I make the others like her.”

“Just get to know her and give it a chance, that’s all I ask. I worry about her, Slender. She is my daughter and she is hurting but there is nothing I can do to stop the pain.”

“I understand, old friend. I will do what I can to help her find the correct path.” Thanatos smiled and nodded.

“Thanks, Slender. Now, about this rivalry between Jeff and Jane.” Thanatos laughed as Slender groaned and rubbed his temples. “Don’t worry so much about it. Eventually the two of them will sleep together and the tension will ease.”

“Creating even more tension in the house at the same time.” Thanatos laughed again as he stood up and stretched.

“Well, that can’t be helped. They are both still young but once they finally get together things will be less stressful for you. At least they will stop drawing so much attention.”

“That will be a blessing. It is not easy to clean up their messes when they get carried away.”

“Well, my friend, I’ll leave you to inform the young ones about my little Nyx. She lives in the large white house just on the outskirts of the forest. Nyx Thanos, my dear daughter, is 25 and owns the Thanos Advertising company which she inherited from her mother. It has been in her family for generations.”

“Ah, Masky and Hoodie have already meet your daughter then. They had a meeting with her about the new “Slender Man” game that BEN has created.” Slender shook his head. “BEN spends too much time playing games, however, he is one of the few children who actually contributes to the household.”

“BEN is a smart boy, Slender. From what I have seen, humans spend a lot of time playing games and on the internet.”

“True.” Slender stood up. “Would you like to see the heralds who are present at the moment?”

“Not tonight, I still have a lot of work to do. I will stop by in a couple of days to see everyone. Have a good night, my friend.”

“You as well, Thanatos.” Thanatos smiled again as he teleported out of the office. Slender sighed and headed out of the office.  

As he entered the entrance hall, Eyeless Jack walked in. Slender could see that he was savoring a human heart. However, there was an unusual scent to the bloody organ. An undertone of something sweet smelling to the usual coppery scent. Slender shook his head and sighed as Eyeless Jack dripped blood on the floor.

“Eyeless Jack, there will be a meeting in the living room as soon as the others get back. Please clean up the blood you are dripping on the floor and let the others know as soon as they get back.” Eyeless Jack nodded as he swallowed the last bite of heart.

“Sure, Slender. I suppose I will have to wait for the meeting to find out what it’s about?”

“Yes, I would rather only explain things once. However, I will let you know that Thanatos was here not too long ago.” Eyeless Jack frowned.

“That can’t be good. The last time Thanatos came over, Freddy, Michael, and Bloody Mary died.”

“No one is going to die this time. Thanatos had a couple of things he wished to discuss with me. However, this does concern the entire household. I will let Sally, BEN, Toby, Masky, Hoodie and Laughing Jack know of the meeting as they are already home. Please have Jeff, Jane, Clockwork, Bloody Painter and Puppeteer join us in the living room when they arrive.”

“Of course, Slender.” With a nod, Slender headed back to the game room to find the children who were already home.

A few hours later, everyone was gathered in the living room waiting for Slender to start the meeting. They watched Slender pace for a few minutes.

“Well, what the fuck is this meeting about, Slendy?” Jeff huffed with impatience as Slender stopped pacing and “glared” at him. For a man with no facial features, it was easy for the others to see his exasperation.

“First of all, Jeffrey, do not call me Slendy. Second, you may want to shut up as you were the one who caused Thanatos to visit.” Jeff gulped as he nodded. Thanatos honestly scared the crap out of him. The guy was ruthless and brutal when pissed. “Luckily, he was not here to kill you.”

“What did Thanatos want?” Slender looked down at Sally and sighed.

“He wants two things. First, the large white house near the forest is off limits for hunting.”

“Why, I already killed the bitch that lived there.”

“No you didn’t, I just killed the woman who lived there.”

“What! No way, I killed her yesterday!”

“Eyeless Jack, Jeff, shut up!” Both men jumped as Slender yelled. “Thanatos is not going to be happy that you killed the woman in that house, Eyeless Jack. He was already upset about Jeff killing her yesterday.”

“Wait, how could they both kill the same person?” Slender sighed at Jane’s question.

“The woman who lives in that house is Nyx Thanos.”

“Hoodie and I had a meeting with her this afternoon. She was alive and well then. Jeff must have killed someone else.”

“No, Jeff did kill her and apparently Eyeless Jack killed her again tonight.” Slender sighed. “Nyx is Thanatos’ daughter.”

“Well, fuck. We are both gonna die now.” Jeff groaned as he ran a hand through his hair. Eyeless Jack swallowed nervously and nodded.

“Thanatos is not going to kill you. He understood that you did not know who she was and that was one of the reason he came to talk with me. Young Nyx is in an unusual situation that Thanatos requested we try to help with.” Slender sighed and shook his head. “The young lady is death’s daughter, which means she is immortal and is supposed to kill people. However, as she was raised with humans, she refuses to do as she must.”

“Well, what’s so unusual about that?” Jane crossed her arms as she glared at Jeff. “Not everyone wants to become a killer.”

“As Thanatos’ daughter, her blood carries great power. With her refusing to use her powers to bring about death, her powers have turned on her, trying to force her to use them. Since her powers bring about a person’s death, they have caused Nyx to die instead. The longer she goes without killing someone, the more gruesome and painful the deaths become. According to Thanatos, healing after dying is just a painful as the death itself.”

“Well, crap. She’s going to be in a lot of pain when she wakes up…I killed her fairly quick, but I took her heart, lungs and kidneys.” Eyeless Jack stared at the floor. “I was just really hungry and her kidneys tasted so good.”

“So how often does she die and how long has this been going on?” Clockwork frowned and shook her head. “It can’t have been too long or she would have given in.”

“Actually, this has been going on for almost two years and she has died every day since her powers were awoken. Tonight marks her 716th death, though only the second time she was murdered. That is why Thanatos wants to make sure that no other herald kills her. She will continue to be murdered in much worse ways until she either gives in and accepts her duty or goes insane.”

“Well, if she goes insane, she’ll start killing people and everything will work out.” Slender shook his head at Toby’s comment.

“No, Toby. If she goes insane, she will become an almost unstoppable killing machine. Not only would the humans be killed, but she is also capable of killing us. Thanatos is the only one who has the ability to truly kill Nyx.” Slender nodded at the shocked looks on the others’ faces.  “Thanatos wants us to get to know Nyx. He is hoping that if she experiences a few deaths at the hands of humans and not us, she will agree to mark the corrupt humans for the Furies. This would satisfy her powers and she would stop dying every day. He also wants her to make some friends who won’t die as she has few human friends.”

“That makes sense.” Bloody Painter nodded. “With friends who aren’t going to die on her and who also kill people, she might become less resistant to the idea.”

“Precisely.”

“So, what’s the plan? Are we just going to show up at her place and introduce ourselves?” Laughing Jack frowned and shook his head at BEN.

“For tonight, you will do nothing. I will go sit with the child and help her as she heals. Once I talk with her, I will have a better idea of what to do. However, I expect both Jeff and Eyeless Jack to apologize to her.”

“Fine, just this once I’ll apologized to someone I killed.” Jeff looked confused for a second. “Well, this would be the only case I would have to apologize to someone I killed.”

“Of course, Slender. I will apologize as soon as I see her.” Eyeless Jack shook his head as Jeff continued to mumble about how strange it was to apologize to someone he killed. Slender nodded, dismissed the meeting, and asked Masky and Hoodie to meet him in his office before he teleported to his office. Once the two young men entered and were seated, Slender sighed again and sat down in his chair behind his desk.

“When you met with Nyx, what kind of impression did she make?”

“She’s an attractive woman. About 5’9” tall, waist length black hair, chocolate brown eyes, an hourglass figure and she was dressed in business casual, a white vest over a short sleeved black shirt, a knee length black skirt, black flats and she wore a crescent moon and star necklace.” Hoodie sighed. “She was professional during the meeting but also nice. Her smile seemed genuine and the presentation she made was well thought out, showed great understanding of the game series and she showed a good sense of humor when she mentioned how ironic it was that Masky and I had the same names as the characters from the “Marble Hornets” series on YouTube.”

“According to what BEN told us, when he contacted her about the possible job, she immediately started researching the game series and the mythos behind it. This led her to not only playing the games but also reading some of the stories on the Creepypasta wiki. BEN was impressed with her research. Hoodie and I were also impressed with her grasp on the image we wanted to present for the new game BEN is working on.”

“So BEN has been watching Nyx for a while then.”

“Only during the day. He’s been working on the new game and terrorizing his targets at night.” Slender nodded and stood up.

“Very well, you two may head to bed.” After the two young men left, Slender teleported to Nyx’s house and entered through the back door. As he headed up the stairs towards Nyx’s room, he noticed the that the few pictures on the walls were all of a blond woman with blue eyes. There were no pictures of a child or of a black haired woman. Slender followed the scent of blood to the last door on the second story and slid into the room.

The room had plain white walls, slate gray linoleum on the floor, a large black bed with black bedding that had fallen to the floor on the opposite side of the bed, a black dresser, a black and silver chair, two black and silver nightstands with a black and white lamp on each, and white and black vanity. The curtains over the window were white and lacy.

Lying in the bed was the body of a young woman. Her nightie as well as her chest and stomach had been cut open, though the sides of the nightie were drape over her generous breasts. Blood stained the woman’s pale skin and her brown eyes were wide open and dull from death. There was a drying pool of blood on the floor next to the bed.

Slender shook his head and went to the en suite bathroom and found a black washcloth, a bucket and some soap. With a sigh, Slender filled the bucket with water and soap then headed back to the bedroom. Slender sat in the chair next to the bed and started washing the blood off of Nyx’s body. By the time he had her body cleaned off he had to head back to the bathroom to change the water. When he got back to the bedroom, he started cleaning the blood off the linoleum floor.

After everything except for the bedding and Nyx’s hair and attire were clean, Slender sat back down in the chair to wait. Nyx’s heart and lungs had regrown by that time. Slender watched as her heart started to beat and she began to breathe again, but the wounds on her chest and stomach hadn’t started to heal yet. This caused her to start bleeding again as her newly regrown heart pumped blood throughout her body.

As Slender watched, Nyx jerked awake. Her eyes were wide and filled with pain as she clenched her jaw and her fists. Tears streamed down her face as the wounds finally started to knit together. Other than a few whimpers, Nyx bore the pain in silence. Slender was impressed with her fortitude. The only other person he had seen who could be wounded so severely and not make a sound was Toby, however, Toby couldn’t feel pain while Nyx was very obviously in a lot of pain.

Once the outer wounds had healed, Nyx sighed and grimaced as she rubbed her hand over where her wounds had been. From her actions, Slender concluded that though the outer wounds were gone, there was still healing taking place to the muscles and organs. After a few minutes, Nyx sighed and looked around the room. Her eyes widened as she saw Slender sitting in the chair by her bed.

“Greetings, child.”

“H…hi. Slenderman right?” Nyx slid to the far side of the bed and stood up.

“That is correct. You need not fear, child. No harm will come to you from me.” Slender stayed seated so that he didn’t tower over Nyx and held out his hand. “Come, child. Let us talk.”

“Umm, would you mind if I cleaned up a bit first?” Nyx looked down at herself and quickly pulled the sides of her nightie closed. “I’m not really dressed for company.”

“Of course, go right ahead, child.” Slender’s hand dropped to rest on his knee. “I shall wait here for your return.”

Nyx nodded and quickly walked to the dresser. A quick glance at the clock showed that it was close to the time that she usually woke up. She grabbed a change of clothes and hurried into the bathroom. As soon as Nyx left the room, Slender gathered the blood soaked bedding and headed down stairs with them. It didn’t take long for Slender to find the laundry room, load the bedding into the washer and start it running. He spotted some fresh bedding folded on top of the dryer and carried them back up to Nyx’s room.

By the time Nyx came out of the bathroom, dressed in a gray spaghetti strap belly shirt, a black sleeveless vest and a pair of dark gray jeans, Slender had finished cleaning the blood off the mattress protector and was just finishing with making the bed. Nyx stopped and smile at the sight of the tall, faceless man making her bed.

“You didn’t have to do that, Slenderman.” Slender stood up straight and turned to face Nyx.

“It was one, well two of the children living with me that killed you, child. You should not have to clean up their messes.” Nyx laughed and shook her head as she crossed the room and stood next to Slender. The top of her head only reached the middle of his chest, so she had to tilt her head back to look him in the face.

“It wasn’t your mess to clean up either.”

“Yet, I am responsible for the children. Please, child, sit down. There is much to talk about.” Nyx nodded and sat on the bed while Slender sat back down in the chair. “You may call me Slender, by the way.”

“Alright, Slender. Then please, call me Nyx.” Slender nodded as he leaned back in the chair.

“Very well, Nyx. Though I tend to call most people child as there are few who are my age or older, I will endeavor to remember to call you by your name from now on.”

“Thank you. Now, what brings the head of the kírykes tou thanátou here?” Slender chuckled at the almost bored tone Nyx had used.

“Your father came to visit me, Nyx. I do apologize for the pain that Jeff and Eyeless Jack inflicted on you. Had I been aware that Thanatos had a child I would have warned the children to stay away.” Nyx sighed.

“I don’t hold Jeff and Eyeless Jack responsible for killing me, Slender.” She ran a hand through her damp hair. “Dad has warned me several times over the last two years that my deaths would only get worse the longer I denied my powers. The fault lays with me, not them.”

“You are very forgiving, Nyx. Most beings in your place would not be so kind.” Nyx laughed.

“Not kind, just honest. I am under no illusions that this will get better.”

“Then why do you put yourself through this pain? Why do you not use your power?”

“There is only one thing I am waiting for. Once that comes to pass, I will use my powers. Until then, I will endure the pain.” Slender tilted his head as he took in the determined look on Nyx’s face. “It won’t be much longer. You see, I do use one of the powers held in my blood. I know the exact day, hour, minute, and second that a human is supposed to die. The only thing I don’t know is the way they will die.”

“So you wait for the death of the woman who raised you before you accept your powers?” Nyx nodded and smiled.

“Mrs. Kirkpatrick has been my mother figure my entire life, Slender. She raised me on the principle that killing, stealing, lying, and cheating were wrong. While she is alive, I will not break with her teachings. That is why I insisted she take the next three months off work to visit her children and grandchildren. It would break my heart if she wasn’t able to spend her last few months with her real family. She will not be returning from her vacation.”

“I see. I am sorry that you will be losing her. So you intend to let yourself be murdered every day for the three months she has left.”

“Precisely.”

“Do you believe that she would want you to suffer for her sake?” Nyx sighed and shook her head.

“No, I know she wouldn’t want me to suffer. However, she wouldn’t want me to kill people either.”

“Have you thought about killing those who are already terminally ill, those who would welcome a peaceful death?”

“And what of the people they will be leaving behind? What of their chance to gain forgiveness for past wrongs or their chance to forgive others for the wrongs that were committed against them?”

“If you killed them at the exact time that their lives are supposed to end, you will not be cheating them of anything.”

“But I would be denying their families the chance to be there to hold their hands as they died. I have thought of this many times in the last 716 days, Slender. No, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did that. Dad is right about taking out criminals and lowlifes and that is what I will do. However, I will not do so before Mrs. Kirkpatrick has passed on. I can and will hold on to my sanity for the next 91 days.”

“Very well, Nyx. If you are determined to see this through, then I and the other heralds will help you.” Nyx raised an eyebrow.

“Why would you help me and how would you help?”

“I would help for three reasons. The first is because your father asked me to help you. Thanatos has been a friend for many centuries and it would break his heart if he was forced to take your life. The second reason is that if you should lose your sanity, you could kill every living creature on this planet aside from your father. I cannot let the children loss their lives for something that was not their fault. The third reason is that I admire your determination and your resolve to stay true to the beliefs that your mother figure taught you. I also find your company quite enjoyable.” Nyx laughed and shook her head.

“Well, I enjoy talking with you as well, Slender, and I understand your concerns and your reasons. Very well, how would you and the other heralds be able to help me?”

“We cannot prevent you from dying, nor can we kill you ourselves, as Thanatos would kill us if we did. However, we can make sure that you are not alone when you die nor when you heal and reawaken. Let us get to know you as you get to know us. Perhaps you may find some friends in our household. Friends who understand the situation and will not turn their backs on you when you do embrace your powers.” Nyx thought about what Slender proposed for a few minutes. Finally, she nodded.

“Alright, though I would rather that no one else witnesses my demise. Death is a rather personal thing, Slender, as is healing after dying.” Slender nodded and stood up.

“Very well, ch…Nyx. If that is what you have decided, then we will honor you wishes.”

“Thank you. I have to finish getting ready for work now, but if you and the other kírykes tou thanátou would like to come around this evening, say around 7, I would be glad to meet them.” Slender nodded.

“I shall inform the others.”

“How many people should I expect and are there any special dietary requirements, other than Eyeless Jack’s, of course. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to have human organs catered.” Nyx chuckled at the thought of placing an order for human kidneys.

“Laughing Jack mostly eats candy, but the rest eat regular food.”

“And you?” Slender chuckled and shook his head.

“Eyeless Jack and I will eat before we arrive. I do prefer to dine alone.”

“So those stories about you eating human children, are they true then?”

“Only the wicked children I kill are eaten. The good children simply fall asleep and don’t wake up. I may kill children, but I am not a cruel man.”

“I can tell. Don’t worry, Slender, I’m not one to judge people for what they have to do. After all, everyone has a purpose.”

“Then we shall be here at 7 this evening. Have a good day, Nyx.”

“You too, Slender.” Nyx smiled as Slender teleported out of the room. “So, I’m hosting a party for immortal killers tonight. And Mrs. Kirkpatrick thought I would be alone.”

Nyx chuckled again as she headed downstairs, grabbed an apple, her purse, and headed out to her car.


	3. Chapter 3

The day passed quickly as she met with her designers, called clients, and reviewed business proposals. During her lunch break she called the Panera Bread Company to order the food for her get together and stopped at Chocolate Mountain to pick up an array of different candies, as she didn’t know what kind Laughing Jack liked. She didn’t worry about buying drinks as there was plenty of soda, milk, tea, coffee, wine, whisky and rum at the house. The wine, whisky and rum had been her mother’s and Nyx kept it in case she had company. She didn’t touch the stuff herself.

After lunch, Nyx quickly finished up her work load for the day and sent everyone else home early. As she headed home, she realized that she didn’t know how many people were coming so she didn’t know if she had enough dishes for everyone. With a sigh, she headed to the local Wal-Mart. The parking lot was almost completely full, so she ended up having to park in the overflow parking, next to the empty, over grown lot. She shook her head as she spent ten minutes walking to the store. She was very glad that she had left the office early, since the store was packed. It took her twenty minutes to pick up a couple of dinnerware sets and some more silverware and another half an hour to get through the lines. She laughed as she thought about how horrified her mother would have been to know that Nyx had set foot in Wal-Mart.

After storing the dishes in her car, she pushed the empty cart back to the cart corral. She was almost back to her car when she was suddenly shoved into the tall grass of the empty lot. She grunted as she fell to the ground and something heavy landed on her back.

Nyx tried to push herself up, but felt a sudden throbbing pain as something hit her on the back of her head. She groaned at the pain.

“Now, be a good girl and hand over your cash.” The voice was male and slightly slurred.

“I don’t have any cash on me.” Nyx hissed as her hair was pulled back forcing her to raise her head. She got a good look at the man. He looked like he was around 30 or 40 years old, his clothes were rumpled and stained, his hair was a mess and he reeked of alcohol and pot.

“Don’t give me that bullshit.” He pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and held it to her throat. “Hand it over and you won’t get hurt.”

“I really don’t have any cash on me. I never carry cash.” Nyx hissed again as the man slammed his fist into the side of her face.

“Girl don’t try my patience.” Nyx glared at the man.

“Even if you kill me, it’s not going to do you any good. I don’t have any cash and I don’t have any credit cards either.” The man’s face grew red and she could see the anger in his eyes.

“Quit lying you little bitch.” The man stabbed her in the side. “Are you ready to hand your cash over yet.”

“Y…you m…moron.” Nyx clenched her jaw and her fists at the pain. “I do…don’t have any ca…cash.”

Enraged, the man stabbed her again. And when she still insisted that she didn’t have cash, he lost it and kept stabbing her just missing her vital organs each time. Other than a few hisses, Nyx refused to scream. It felt like an eternity before her heart stopped beating and she sank into death once more.

When the man saw that the woman was dead, he rolled her over and grabbed her purse, which had been lying under her the whole time. He dumped it out and sorted through the contents, shaking his head with disgust as all he found was some lip gloss, a roll of mints, a few receipts, a cell phone and a checkbook, which only had one check left.

“Stupid bitch.” He stood up and kicked her body before dropping the checkbook and heading further into the tall grass. “Waste of my fucking time.”

Nyx held back a scream as she reentered the world of the living. Tears streamed down her face as each wound slowly started to stitch themselves back together. Each wound felt like it was on fire and the pain in her face and head almost made her wish she had stayed dead. Once the pain had died down to a manageable level, Nyx glanced at her watch.

“Shit!” Nyx jumped up and looked around. After grabbing her purse and stuffing her things back into it, she pulled a book of matches out of her front pocket. How they had managed to avoid being soaked in blood, she didn’t know and didn’t have time to care. She quickly gathered up some of the long grass, piled it in the center of the bloody pool and lit it on fire. Then she ran as fast as she could to her car, pulled her keys out of her other pants pocket, dug her trench coat out of the trunk, and headed home as fast as she legally could. Once she was half way home, she called the fire department about the fire she had “Seen” as she was passing Wal-Mart.

It was 6:45 by the time she reached her house and she saw the caterer was just heading to the door. After giving herself a quick glance to make sure that she didn’t look like she had killed someone, she fixed a smile on her face and got out of the car. Since she had already paid by check over the phone at lunch, she didn’t have to worry about her blood stained check book.

She had the delivery guy set the food in the kitchen, telling him that she would set it up herself. After seeing him to the door, she watched him drive away before heading out to the car and grabbing the dish sets and silverware.

Seeing it was 6:50, she quickly tossed her trench coat in the closet, washed the new dishes and set up the food, drinks, desserts and candy. The doorbell rang at exactly 7:00 and with a small sigh, Nyx headed to answer the door.

“Child, what happened?” Nyx grimaced as she invited the thirteen people into her house.

“Please, Slender, it’s Nyx.” She sighed and shook her head. “Sorry, I didn’t have time to clean up. I kind of lose track of time when I’m dead. I just got back fifteen minutes ago. Why don’t you guys go ahead and grab something to eat while I go clean up?”

“We will wait for you, Nyx.” Nyx chuckled and shook her head.

“Alright, well you can wait in the living room if you want. I’ll be back in fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. You can watch T.V. or listen to music while you wait.” Nyx guided her guests to the living room before heading upstairs to shower and change.

“Well, that was interesting.” Jeff plopped down on the couch. “You made us wear clean, unstained cloths and the hostess greets us covered in blood.”

“Oh shut up, Jeff.” Jane sat down in the chair as BEN turned the T.V. on. “Obviously Nyx rushed home after being murdered. You can’t blame her for being covered in blood.”

“I wasn’t blaming her, Jane. I was just commenting on how ironic it was.”

“Knock it off, both of you.” Puppeteer sighed. “Your bickering like an old married couple.”

BEN laughed as Jeff and Jane growled. Sally sat down on the floor next to BEN and grabbed the remote before changing the channel to Cartoon Network.

“If I hear the two of you arguing again tonight, I will lock you both in a closet when we get home.” Everyone but Jeff and Jane laughed at Slender’s threat. “Jeffrey, I mean it. Nyx does not need to deal with your rivalry after having been murdered again.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it, Slendy.” Slender sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“Hey guys, check this out.” Bloody Painter pointed to one of the paintings on the wall. It was of a young lady with long blonde hair in a flowing white gown reclining on a red chaise. Her eyes were closed as if she was asleep, with one arm draped over her stomach and the other dangling off the chaise. The arm dangling off the chaise showed blood trailing from the woman’s wrist and dripping off her finger tips. “I didn’t know that my early work had been sold.”

“She reminded me of my mother.” Everyone turned to see Nyx standing in the doorway wearing a red, spaghetti strap blouse and a pair of black slacks. Her black hair was still damp. She smiled at everyone as she walked over to the painting. “Mother was beautiful, delicate looking, and silently killing herself with every decision she made. Just like the woman in the painting.”

“Well, actually I kill the woman in the painting.”

“True, but she chose to pose for it. She chose to put herself in the position of getting killed. At least she didn’t drag someone else down with her.”

“And your mother did?” Nyx laughed and shook her head.

“Oh mother dragged a lot of people down with her. Who knows how many people she hurt over the years. The woman was so self-centered she couldn’t see past her own desires to see what was really important. She valued nothing, so she died with nothing in the end. Even then she tried to drag someone down with her.”

“What do you mean?” Nyx chuckled and looked over at the man who had killed her first.

“She crashed the car on purpose. The day I died for the first time, she had dragged me with her to her doctor’s appointment. She hadn’t been feeling well and finally gave in to getting checked out.” Nyx leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “She had cancer and her doctor wanted to start chemo therapy to try to fix it. Mother was pissed that the doctor would even suggest that she go through with a treatment that would “cause her to look like a hag” as she put it. She stormed out of the office, dragging me with her. We argued a bit as she drove, I tried to tell her that life and love had more value than looks. The last thing she said before she stomped on the gas and aimed for the forest was “The only thing I value is my looks.” The next thing I knew I was waking up in pain to see my dad looking down at me with tears in his eyes and my mother’s soul resting in his hand.”

“That’s messed up.” Nyx laughed again as she smiled at Jeff.

“Well, what can you expect from a spoiled, rich heiress who never had to be responsible for anything. Grandpa gave mother everything she asked for and mother kept asking for more. When Grandpa died and left mother the company, she played at running it for a while before running off and leaving me in charge. I was only 18 at the time.”

“Wow, what a bitch.” Nyx looked over at the black haired woman who was wearing a white mask with black lips and shrugged.

“Yeah, she was. But Mrs. Kirkpatrick was here, like always, so it didn’t really matter what mother did. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was the one who raised me; even though she had already raised three children of her own, she still treated me like a daughter. It’s sad to think that I’ll miss her more than I did mother. I don’t think anyone really missed mother once she was gone. She didn’t value herself, so no one else did either.” Nyx sighed and shook her head. “Well, enough about ancient history. Let’s go grab something to eat. All of you probably know that I’m Nyx Thanos. I know Slender, and I’ve already met Jeff and Eyeless Jack, I look forward to meeting the rest of you.” Nyx led them into the dining room where she had set up the food on the buffet table.

As most of the men, Slender and Eyeless Jack being the exceptions, crowded the buffet, Jane, Clockwork and Sally stayed and introduced themselves to Nyx. In less than a minute, Sally had charmed Nyx and was sitting on her hip as the Jane and Clockwork complained about how difficult it was to go shopping, even online since they couldn’t have anything delivered. Nyx shook her head. She had learned to hate shopping for clothes over the last two years, but she remembered when she had liked to go shopping.

“Go ahead and order what you need. You can have it delivered here. I bet the boys have the same trouble.”

“Not really, Masky and Hoodie do most of the shopping, but I would hate having those two pick out clothes for me.” Jane shuddered. “I’d end up with pink girly clothes.”

“And I’d end up in short slutty clothes.” Clockwork sighed. “Toby would make sure of that.”

Nyx laughed and shook her head as she set Sally down and the three girls headed over to grab some food. The boys had their plates piled high with sandwiches and sweets, except for the black and white clown, who Nyx figured must have been Laughing Jack since he had grabbed two bowls of candy and was eyeing another one.

“Nyx, can I talk with you for a minute?” She turned to see Eyeless Jack standing behind her.

“Sure, Eyeless Jack.”

“Just call me EJ, most of the others do.”

“Alright, EJ, what can I do for you?” EJ rubbed the back of his neck briefly and sighed.

“I just wanted to apologize for killing you last night. I was just really hungry and I hadn’t intended to kill you, just snag one of your kidneys. I thought there would have been more people living here.” Nyx laughed and patted his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. At least with you I died quickly. Today’s death seemed to last forever. The bastard wouldn’t hit any of my vital organs so I had to bleed to death. I swear, these next ninety days are going to kill my wardrobe.” Nyx sighed as she thought about having to go clothes shopping again. “Besides, it’s not your fault that I died. You were just the weapon my powers used, you can’t blame the weapon for what the hand holding it does.”

Nyx smirked and leaned back against the wall. EJ tilted his head as she crossed her arms and laughed.

“What?”

“I was just thinking that it’s ironic that I have so much trouble finding someone who’s worthy of my heart and you literally stole my heart right out of my chest. Not exactly the way I wanted my heart stolen. So how did it taste?” EJ laughed and shook his head.

“No one’s ever asked me that question before.”

“Well, I doubt they survived without their heart so they couldn’t ask.”

“True, and I must say that your heart, lungs and kidneys were by far the best I had ever tasted.”

“Well, glad you enjoyed your meal. Sorry that I couldn’t get you anything tonight.” EJ laughed again.

“That’s fine, my diet isn’t something you can pick up at a grocery store.” Nyx smiled and nodded. “Well, I’ll let you go meet the others.”

“If you get bored, there’s a library and a game room. The library is the third door down the hall on the left and the game room is at the end of the hall.”

“Thanks.” Nyx patted EJ’s arm as she pushed away from the wall and headed over to talk with the others. She decided to talk with the Link looking kid who was sitting off to the side of the room playing a 3DS while he ate.

“Hey, what are you playing?” Nyx sat next to him and leaned over to see the screen.

“Legend of Zelda, a Link Between Worlds. I’m trying to beat the Gannon wannabe.”

“Merge to the wall, shoot him with an arrow in the back, then when he comes out, attack his back. Merge with the wall again when he charges and use your sword like a bat to hit the energy balls he throws back at him.”

“Cool, thanks. I’m BEN Drowned.” Nyx chuckled as he kept looking at the game.

“Nice to meet you, BEN. If you finish the game, you can check out the game room. It’s at the end of the hall.”

“Cool.” Nyx rolled her eyes and left BEN sitting there playing his game. She looked around the room and decided to talk with the artist who had painted the painting in her living room and the gray skinned boy with the glowing golden eyes.

They introduced themselves as Bloody Painter and Puppeteer. After talking about art for a while, Nyx excused herself and headed towards Laughing Jack and the three other men she hadn’t meet yet. As she made her was over to them, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her through the door into the kitchen. She turned to see Jeff staring down at her.

“You could have just asked to talk with me.” Nyx sighed as she leaned against the kitchen counter. “How are you doing, Jeff?”

“Why the fuck are you being so nice to me?” Nyx laughed and shook her head.

“Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”

“Cause I killed you.”

“So did EJ and the bastard who killed me earlier today. EJ was hungry, it’s understandable that he would kill me to eat. You’re a kírykes tou thanátou, killing is what you’re supposed to do. The bastard who killed me early wanted money, probably for more booze or pot. He didn’t have to kill me, he could have grabbed my purse and taken off for all the good it would have done him. I’m not an idiot who carries cash or credit cards around. And he wouldn’t have been able to use my checkbook.” Nyx laughed as Jeff tried to frown. “I don’t like being murdered, Jeff, but it wasn’t your fault that I died the night before last. As I told EJ, you can’t blame a weapon for what the hand wielding it does.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, sorry about that.” Nyx laughed again at the uncomfortable look on Jeff’s face.

“No, you’re not and I don’t expect you to be. I’ve read your story and I know you love killing. Slender probably ordered you to apologize, right.”

“Well, yeah.” Nyx shook her head.

“The truth is better than a lie, Jeff. What your sorry about is that you could have gotten in trouble with my dad for killing me. Besides, there’s nothing to forgive. I would have died anyway. You know people say that death is a part of life, in my case it really is. 717 times I’ve died, three of which were murders. Dying so many times really makes me appreciate life, most people don’t have the opportunity to learn that until it’s too late.”

“You are one strange woman, Nyx.” She laughed again and patted Jeff’s arm as she turned to leave the room.

“We’re all strange here, Jeff, so I’ll take that as a compliment. See you around.” Nyx left the kitchen and finished crossing the dining room to stand next to Laughing Jack and the last three people she hadn’t met. The three men all had different types of masks covering their faces, so she couldn’t make out what they looked like.

“Hey, you guys having fun?” Laughing Jack chuckled and popped some candy in his mouth.

“Sure am, lollipop. I’m Laughing Jack, you can call me LJ.” Nyx laughed as LJ grinned down at her.

“Nice to meet you LJ. I don’t usually like clowns, but I listened to your origin story on YouTube. I don’t know how much of it was true and how much was made up, but you’re one clown I don’t hate.” LJ grinned wider and laughed as he ruffled Nyx’s hair.

“Good to know, lollipop. Most of the story was true, BEN likes to hide us in plain sight.” Nyx sighed and straightened her hair.

“Well, in that case, you didn’t torture Isaac nearly long enough. He deserved much worse for what he did to you.” She patted his shoulder as she turned to the three other men.

“I’m Toby, most people call me Ticci Toby.” Nyx was about to ask about the nickname when he started twitching and his neck started popping loudly.

“Nice to meet you, Toby.” Nyx pulled a chair over and pushed Toby down into it then started massaging his neck. Toby tensed up for a minute. “Relax, I knew a girl in junior high that had spasms like this. This always seemed to help her.”

After a few seconds, Toby started to relax. Nyx massaged his neck and shoulders for a few minutes until the spasms stopped. She could feel someone glaring at her and looked around. She spotted Clockwork standing across the room and waved her over. Clockwork frowned as she crossed the room.

“Hey, Clockwork, can you take over for me? Toby was having a muscle spasm and I know that neck and shoulder massages help, but I haven’t given anyone a massage since Samantha moved out of town, so my hands are sore.” Clockwork smiled and nodded as she took over massaging Toby’s neck and shoulders. Nyx smiled, then smirked as she leaned closer to the two of them. “You know, it may be better for Toby to lay down while you do this. He’ll really be able to relax then. You can use any of the guestrooms upstairs, if you want.”

“NYX!” Nyx laughed as Clockwork blushed. Toby grabbed Clockwork’s hand and dragged her out of the room. LJ and the two other men laughed at the sight.

“You’re good at reading people, Nyx.” Nyx looked over at the two men she hadn’t been introduced to yet and smirked.

“Yeah, you’re also good at smoothing things over.”

“Another thing I’m good at is recognizing voices. Nice to see you again Tim, Brian.” Nyx laughed as the two men stiffened.

“We go by Masky and Hoodie when we aren’t running errands for Slender or BEN.” Nyx nodded and laughed again.

“So were you the ones who made the “Marble Hornets” videos?”

“No, those were made by a group of idiots we knew in college. They had seen us when we were on a job a couple of times and decided to make a story about us. That they chose to use Brian and I for the roles of Masky and Hoodie was a coincidence.” Nyx nodded and smiled at the two men.

“So then I’m guessing that BEN is the one who created the Slender Man game.”

“How’d you figure that out?”

“You said you run errand for Slender and BEN. BEN is also the only one I’ve seen that’s obsessed with video games. It’s not hard to put two and two together and get four.” LJ laughed as Masky and Hoodie sighed.

“Well, you’re a smart one aren’t you, lollipop.”

“Thanks, LJ, but could you please call me Nyx.”

“Nope.” Nyx laughed and shook her head.

“Fine, then I’ll have to think of a nickname for you. How about Puddin’ Tater.” LJ scowled as Masky and Hoodie laughed.

“Alright, you win, Nyx.” She smirked and patted his shoulder.

“Thanks, LJ.” After talking with the three of them for a while, Nyx yawned and headed over to talk with Slender.

“Well, I see that you’re getting along with the kírykes tou thanátou, Nyx.” Nyx rolled her eyes as she turned to see Thanatos standing behind her.

“Hey, Dad. I didn’t expect to see you again this soon.” Thanatos kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“A few people died at the hospital here in town, so I thought I’d stop by.” Nyx looked around at the kírykes tou thanátou in the room. They had all stopped what they were doing and were staring at her and Thanatos. Nyx sighed and shook her head.

“What, you guys never seen a father greet his daughter?” Thanatos laughed and shook his head.

“Relax, guys. None of you are going to die tonight.” Nyx laughed and shook her head as the kírykes tou thanátou nodded slowly and went back to what they were doing. “I really should visit them more often when I don’t have to take out a few of them.”

“Probably. Well as good as it was to see you, I have to work tomorrow so I have to get to bed.” Thanatos sighed and shook his head.

“You work too hard, Nyx. You should take some time off.”

“No can do, Dad. I have too much work to oversee to take a break.”

“Why are you so stubborn?”

“Not stubborn, Dad, responsible.” Nyx laughed again when Thanatos sighed and squeezed her shoulders.

“Fine, I’ll let the others know it’s time for them to head out. Go get some sleep.”

“At least I don’t have to worry about being woken up in the middle of the night. I’ll talk with you some other time, Dad.” Thanatos nodded and kissed her forehead before heading over to talk with Slender. Nyx shook her head as she headed upstairs to her room. By the time she had changed, she could hear the kírykes tou thanátou leaving and smiled as she slid into bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Two months had passed since the first time Nyx had been murdered. Every day she was murdered by some human and every day she suffered through the pain of both dying and healing from death without crying out. She clung to the beliefs that Mrs. Kirkpatrick had taught her. Surprisingly, the kírykes tou thanátou helped her keep from breaking her vow. A few times a week, they would hang out at her house. BEN and Nyx had taken to playing video games together on Saturdays while Jane, Clockwork and Sally would come over on Tuesdays to do some online shopping when Nyx got home from work. Thursdays, Slender would come over and they would talk about nature or sit quietly and read. The other kírykes tou thanátou occasionally showed up, but they didn’t show up often.

“Only thirty days to go.” Nyx sighed as she strolled down the sidewalk near the forest. In a way she was glad that the wait was almost over. Dying every day was getting on her nerves. However, she was also dreading the day that she would lose the only real family she had while growing up. 

As much as she enjoyed visiting with the kírykes tou thanátou, she just didn’t see them as family. And as much as she had come to love her dad over the two years she had known him, she still didn’t want to live with him and she didn’t get to see him very often, though he would show up at random moments.

It happened so fast that she didn’t see it coming. One minute she was walking along and the next something heavy slammed into the back of her head. Blinding pain radiated through her head as she fell to the ground, her consciousness faded out before her head even hit the sidewalk.

When Nyx woke up, she found herself out in the middle of a forest, tied up and gagged. Standing over her was Beth, one of her best designers, and the young man she had seen Beth with a few times. While Nyx knew that Beth was married, she also knew that the young man she was currently cuddled up with was not her husband.

“I see you’re awake.” Beth crouched down and stared into Nyx’s eyes. “I know you were the one who told Tom about Sam. You’re going to pay for ruining my marriage.”

Nyx rolled her eyes at that and sighed. ‘Great, now I won’t be able to go to work anymore and I’ll have to figure out how to sell the company. Beth, you idiot, why the heck would you think I told Tom about your cheating, especially when he is cheating on you with Stephanie in Accounting.’

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, you bitch! Tom filed for a divorce because of you!” Beth kicked Nyx in the stomach. “You should have kept your nose out of my business!”

Sam grabbed Nyx’s hair and forced her head up as Beth pulled out a kitchen knife. ‘What is with people stabbing me?’ Nyx closed her eyes and clenched her jaw to keep from screaming through the gag. ‘No one has any imagination. Out of the last sixty times I died, only four times didn’t involve getting stabbed and cut up.’

Nyx shuddered as she remembered the time she was beaten to death with a baseball bat. Apparently, after she was killed, the moron shoved her through a wood chipper. Healing from that was the most painful one she had experienced. She had been glad that she had her trench coat in her car and that she had made it to her car before anyone had seen her.

Then there was the time she was drowned, that one hadn’t been too bad, thought waking up at the bottom of a lake with a brick tied to her ankles had been stressful. Being shot in the head had been quick and almost painless, though the healing had been a bitch and it had taken a full bottle of shampoo to get all of the brain matter out of her hair.

Being set on fire been excruciating, though the pain only lasted briefly. Again, healing from being burned to death was a bitch, not to mention embarrassing has hell, since she had to call Jane and Clockwork and ask them to bring her some clothes. She was just glad that the moron who had killed her that time hadn’t burned her purse with her.

A sharp pain in her side brought her back to the present. Beth had stabbed her in the side and was dragging the blade through her stomach. Tears welled up in Nyx’s eyes, but she still refused to make more noise than a hiss. It wasn’t long before Sam joined in on torturing Nyx and started breaking her bones. He started with her fingers, smashing them over and over with a hammer. Then he moved on to her arms, legs and feet. Nyx could see some of her ribs sticking out of her chest and felt some of her ribs pierce her lungs when Sam took the hammer to her chest. ‘Wonderful, this time I get to drowned in my own blood. I guess they have more imagination than I thought.’

Just as her lungs stopped functioning and her heart beat slowed, Nyx heard a loud crack and a scream of pain come from Sam. Out of the corner of her eye, just as her vision failed and her heart stopped beating, she saw a large black feather drift to the ground next to a small, scruffy looking dog.

Hobo Heart looked down at the pathetic, blonde haired woman that the man called Beth as she screamed and plead for her life. That she would plead for her life after killing another human filled him with disgust. As he held her down on the ground, he pulled the stitches from his chest, reopening the hole in his chest and pulled out the heart from the last woman he had killed. He gently set the heart on the ground next to Beth and removed her shirt.

Usually, he would ask the woman if she valued her heart and kiss her forehead at that point, but he already knew the answer and this woman disgusted him with how little she valued what was really important. He grinned as he slammed his fist into the woman’s chest. The man’s pathetic cries were accompanied by Beth’s steadily weakening screams of fear, pain and grief as he kept slamming his fist into her chest.

Once her ribs were smashed, Hobo Heart ripped her chest open with his bare hands and pulled out her still beating heart. He placed it in his own chest, pulled the bone needle out of his pocket and held it in his mouth as he pulled out several stands of Beth’s hair and neatly lined them up next to the old heart. Then, using her hair as thread, he started sewing the hole in his chest closed. He looked down at his dog as the dog whined at him and patted him on the head as he finished his task.

Then he walked over to the broken man and knelt in front of him, grasping his face between his ice cold hands. Hobo Heart tilted his head as he wiped the tear from the man’s face. He saw the hopeless sadness and grief in the man’s heart and lean closer to him.

“Do you value your heart?” Hobo Heart shook his head as he wrenched the man’s head to the side, snapping his neck. He sighed as he looked down at the dead man. “No, you don’t value your heart. Just like everyone else.”

Hobo Heart sadly shook his head as he heard his dog whine again. He looked over to see his dog lick the face of the woman that Beth and the man had killed. He walked over and stared down at her death dulled brown eyes. Though there were tear stains on her face, she didn’t look horrified. Hobo Heart watched his dog pull one of her broken ribs from her chest and lay down next to her as he started to chew on it. For some reason it bothered him to see the ropes around her wrists and ankles and the blood stained white cloth that was fashioned into a gag, so he knelt next to her body and untied them.

“Let’s go.” Hobo Heart stood back up, turned and started walking away but stopped when his dog whined again. He looked back at his dog and tilted his head as he snuggled closer to the dead woman and licked the woman’s face again. “You don’t want to leave yet? Alright.”

He walked over and sat down next to the woman’s body before leaning against a tree. The dog yipped happily and started chewing on the woman’s rib again.

Hobo Heart lost track of time as he thought over everything that had happened since C.C. had tried to sacrifice his heart to the tree. Every month he had to gather a new heart as the corrupt human heart withered and slowly died in his chest. Everywhere he went, the humans were sad and didn’t value the hearts they had. They cheated, betrayed and lied to those whose hearts they held in their hands.

Just like C.C. had. He had thought that she was different, she had been the only human who wasn’t sad. She had given him hope and taught his heart to feel. And then she crushed his heart, the heart he had given to her because he had valued it and he had valued her. Hobo Heart sighed as he looked up at the darkening sky through the branches of the trees.

It was a faint sound that drew his attention. The sound of snapping bones and the soft, slow beating of a heart. He turned his head and watched as the life came back to the woman’s eyes. He saw her jaw clench and pain pinch her delicate looking face. As he watched, the wounds started to knit back together, like his did when he was injured. However, unlike when he healed, the woman seemed to be in great pain. Even after the outer wounds healed and she slowly sat up, she winced as she rubbed at where her wounds had been.

Hobo Heart tilted his head and he watched the woman look down at his dog when he whined. She smiled down at the little dog and petted his head.

“Aw, you’re so cute. Is that one of my ribs? Oh well, you can have it little guy. I’ve already regrown that one, at least, my ribs don’t hurt anymore, so they should all be healed.” The woman laughed as the dog licked her hand. “Do you know how to get to the road, little guy? I have to figure out where I am and get home before anyone sees me like this.”

The woman started to look around and Hobo Heart saw her eyes widen as she first caught sight of Beth and the man he had killed. Then she turned and saw him. Her eyes widened further as she took in his appearance, then to his surprise, she smiled.

“Thank you.” Hobo Heart tilted his head as his bright blue eyes met her chocolate brown eyes.

“Why are you thanking me?”

“Because now I don’t have to quit working and stage my own funeral. This is the first time a human I actually knew killed me, so I was worried that I would have to move, stage my own funeral and sell my company. Since Beth and Sam are dead, I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“You’re not afraid of me? You don’t hate me for killing them?” The woman tilted her head and laughed.

“Of course not. The few friends I have kill people and my dad kills people, and in thirty days, I’ll have to start killing people too.” The woman looked a bit sad as she said the last part.

“Why will you have to kill people?”

“Because, that’s the day that the woman who raised me will die. Once she dies, I will have to kill people to stop dying every day. I never wanted to kill people, but if I don’t do it while I’m still sane then no one would be safe.” The woman smiled again as she looked at him. “At least I’ll be able to choose who I kill; I’ll be able to make other people safe by taking out the scum. There’s some consolation in that.”

Hobo Heart nodded as he watched the woman pet his dog as he chewed on her rib. Like C.C., this woman wasn’t sad, at least not for long. But unlike C.C., she didn’t hate him for killing people.

“I’m Nyx. What’s your name?” Hobo Heart tilted his head as Nyx held her hand out to him. He had seen humans clasp hands before, so he took her hand in his and smiled a bit as she shook his hand and didn’t even flinch at the icy temperature of his skin.

“I’m Hobo Heart.” She smiled wider as Hobo Heart took her hand in his.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hobo Heart. So is this little guy yours?” She chuckled as his dog crawled into her lap. Hobo Heart nodded. “What’s his name?”

“He doesn’t have a name.”

“Well, he needs one, let’s see, he really seems to like bones, and he takes the bones of dead people, so how about Reaper Bones?” Nyx looked down at the little dog and scratched behind his ears. “What do you think, little guy? Should that be your name?”

Almost as if he was answering her, the little dog yipped and licked her hand. Hobo Heart smiled again as Nyx kissed the dog’s head.

“I think he likes it.” She smiled up at Hobo Heart.

“It’s a good name.”

“Do you have a place to stay? Since there hasn’t been any news of anyone being killed in this manner yet, you must be new in the area.”

“Reaper Bones and I are just passing through. We don’t really need a place to stay.”

“Oh, well, why don’t you stay with me for a while? I have plenty of room at home and it’s the least I can do since you saved me a lot of trouble.” Hobo Heart tilted his head as he stared down into her smiling face. It had been a long time since he had been around someone who wasn’t sad and that he didn’t kill. He looked down at Reaper Bones, seeing how happy he was laying in Nyx’s lap Hobo nodded.

“Alright. We will stay for a while.” Nyx gently squeezed his hand, and grinned.

“Great! Now all we have to do is find our way back to my house. Did you see a road near here?” Hobo Heart shook his head as Nyx picked Reaper Bones up and set him on the ground. She patted his head again before she stood up. A breeze hitting her stomach cause her to take a look at herself and she sighed. “I’m going to have to go shopping again. Getting murdered every day is worse on my clothes than dying of a heart attack, a stroke, an aneurism, or falling down the stairs and breaking my neck.”

“How many times have you died?”

“776 times so far.” Nyx chuckled as Hobo Heart’s jaw briefly dropped. “Only 62 of those have been murders, though. And I only have to be murdered for thirty more days.”

“Why do you wait when you could stop the pain you go through?” Nyx smiled at Hobo Heart.

“Because Mrs. Kirkpatrick is scheduled to die in thirty days. She raised me when she didn’t have to. She taught me that lying, stealing, cheating and killing were wrong. I will not kill anyone while she is still alive. It would break her heart if I turned my back on her beliefs. Once she has passed on, I won’t have anyone left who would be upset when I start to kill people.” She smiled wider as Hobo Heart picked up Reaper Bones and stood up next to her. “In fact, it would make the rest of the people I care about happy. Dad hates it that I die every day and my few friends worry that I’ll go insane before I start killing people. But I won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I have people that I care about. I refuse to hurt them like that.” Nyx laughed and shook her head. “Well, we should start walking. I’m sure that we’ll find a road soon.”

“I’ll find the road.” Nyx tilted her head as she looked up at Hobo Heart. His blackish-gray skin and the white bones that looked as if they were painted on him were covered in blood and there was a large circular wound on his chest that was stitched together with some kind of yellowish-gold thread. The stark white skull on his face contrasted with his blackish-gray skin and made his bright blue eyes even more brilliant, they almost seemed to glow. As Nyx watched, two large, black wings unfurled from his back and he leapt into the air. Nyx thought he looked like a fallen angel as he ascended into the sky. His shoulder length white hair was ruffled by the wind his wings created.

As Hobo Heart broke the forest canopy, he saw a break in the trees that stretched as far as he could see. He quickly flew over to the break in the trees and saw that it was a road. Still holding Reaper Bones in his arms, Hobo Heart flew back to where he had left Nyx and landed a few feet away from her. The wind from his wings caused her long black hair to whip around her delicate face. She had a large smile on her face as she walked over to him.

“That was amazing, Hobo Heart.” She watched with interest as his wings furled and were absorbed into his back. “It must be fun to fly like that.”

“Yes, at times it is fun.” He smiled briefly as she scratched behind Reaper Bones’ ears again.

“Did you see a road?” Hobo Heart nodded.

“It is some ways away, but I found one.” He started walking in to the east and glanced down at Nyx as she fell into step beside him.

“Thank you for all your help today.”

“You’re welcome.” Hobo Heart shook his head again and smiled as he was thanked for a second time for killing two people. They walked in comfortable silence until they reached the road. Nyx groaned as she spotted the sign down the road.

“Well, the good news is that I know where we are. The bad news is that we have a long walk ahead of us.” She shook her head as they started following the road north. “We should keep in the tree line so that people don’t see us. It would be hard to explain all the blood.”

Hobo Heart nodded as they veered back into the trees. He was surprised again when Nyx started softly humming a song as they walked. He hadn’t heard the song before so he didn’t know the words to it, but the tune sounded slightly mournful even though she was smiling.

“What is that song you’re humming?” Nyx looked over at Hobo Heart and Reaper Bones.

“It’s called “Frozen,” Madonna sings it.”

“It sounds sad, but you are smiling while you hum it.” Nyx laughed.

“It’s a sad song, but I like it. It’s about a woman who’s in love with someone, but the man she’s in love with doesn’t see what’s important.” Hobo Heart nodded, he had never come across anyone who had valued their heart like he did. “Would you like to hear it? I’m not the best singer, but I know all the lyrics.”

Hobo Heart nodded and Nyx smiled again as she started to sing.

“You only see what your eyes want to see  
How can life be what you want it to be  
You're frozen  
When your heart's not open  
  
You're so consumed with how much you get  
You waste your time with hate and regret  
You're broken  
When your heart's not open  
  
Mmmmmm, if I could melt your heart  
Mmmmmm, we'd never be apart  
Mmmmmm, give yourself to me  
Mmmmmm, you hold the key  
  
Now there's no point in placing the blame  
And you should know I suffer the same  
If I lose you  
My heart will be broken  
  
Love is a bird, she needs to fly  
Let all the hurt inside of you die  
You're frozen  
When your heart's not open  
  
Mmmmmm, if I could melt your heart  
Mmmmmm, we'd never be apart  
Mmmmmm, give yourself to me  
Mmmmmm, you hold the key  
  
You only see what your eyes want to see  
How can life be what you want it to be  
You're frozen  
When your heart's not open  
  
Mmmmmm, if I could melt your heart  
Mmmmmm, we'd never be apart  
Mmmmmm, give yourself to me  
Mmmmmm, you hold the key  
  
If I could melt your heart  
Mmmmmm, we'd never be apart  
Mmmmmm, give yourself to me  
Mmmmmm, you hold the key  
  
If I could melt your heart”

“Why would you want to melt someone’s heart? If the woman was in love with the man she should value his heart and protect it, not melt it.” Nyx smiled at the question.

“She didn’t want to actually melt his heart. It’s a saying that people use. It means she wanted him to let her teach his heart what was important. She wanted to teach his heart to love and she wanted to teach him how to cherish the life that he had. She wanted to save him from hate and anger. She wasn’t actually asking him to give himself to her either, she was asking him to stay by her side, to love her back.”

“Then why didn’t she just say that?” Nyx laughed.

“Humans love to use metaphors. A metaphor is a saying or a phrase that means something but not in the literal sense. Like saying someone eats like a bird. It doesn’t mean that they eat what a bird would eat or in the manner of a bird, it means that they don’t eat a lot and tend to pick at their food.”

“So love being a bird that needs to fly?”

“It means that love should be freely given and that being in love makes you feel like you can fly. It can also mean that if you love someone, you let them follow their own heart. You let them fly where their heart will take them. Real love is selfless, Hobo Heart. When you love someone, you want them to be happy, even if it means that their happiness takes them away from you.”

“What about if someone asks you to give your heart to them?”

“That means that the person is asking you if you love them. Usually, a person will only ask you something like that if they love you and want to know if you love them too. They aren’t literally asking you to take your heart out and give it to them. A human would die if they literally gave their heart to someone.”

Hobo Heart frowned as he thought about the valentine he still carried in his pocket, C.C. had given it to him. He wasn’t sure how to feel now that he knew that C.C. had been asking for his love and not his actual heart. He wondered if she had been in love with him and why she would have tried to sacrifice his heart to the tree of selil prison if she had loved him. He had loved her; he had been willing to die to keep her safe.

“Hey, Hobo Heart?”

“Yes?”

“What are you?” Nyx smiled gently at him when he looked down at her again. “I know you aren’t human, but I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

“I’m a Gemberling.” His lips twitched in a brief smile at the confused look on Nyx’s face. “I was created by my maker to serve a purpose. I failed to complete my service though.”

“What was your purpose?” Hobo Heart looked away as he frowned. C.C. had asked him that and when she found out what his purpose was, she had hated him.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He looked back down at Nyx when she rested her hand on his forearm. She was still smiling at him.

“That’s alright, Hobo Heart. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. But if you ever do want to talk, you can talk to me.” He nodded and patted Reaper Bones head when the dog licked his cheek.

Hours passed as the two of them walked through the forest, just inside the tree line. Hobo Heart listened to Nyx hum songs and it surprised him that she just kept smiling. Other than C.C., he had never met anyone who smiled so much and seemed so happy.

It was well past midnight when Nyx lead Hobo Heart into her large white house. Hobo Heart had seen a lot of large houses during his long life, but had never been in one before. He looked around the entryway as Nyx tossed her keys onto a small table near the door.

“Well, let’s go get cleaned up and head to bed. I have to work tomorrow so I have to get some sleep.” Hobo Heart nodded as he followed Nyx up the stairs. She led him to a large room that had a large bed, a dresser, a desk and chair and two doors other than the one they had entered though. “This was my Grandfather’s room. Mother never got around to clearing his things out and I was too busy to do it after he died, so there are still some clothes in the dress and the closet that you can use.”

Hobo Heart tilted his head when Nyx laughed.

“What?”

“It’s just that Grandfather wasn’t like a like most older people. He had suits for work, but when he was home he always wore jeans and tee-shirts. He was about your height, but he was heavier than you are, so you may need to wear a belt to keep his pants up.” Hobo Heart nodded as he put Reaper Bones down.

“That door leads to the bathroom.” Nyx pointed to the door on the right side of the room. “The door on the left leads to the closet. Here, I’ll show you were the towels and washcloths are.”

Hobo Heart followed Nyx into the bathroom and looked around at the unusual things in the room. He had seen and used toilets before, most parks had public bathrooms and he had been grateful when flushing toilets had taken the place of outhouses. He also knew what the sink was and how to use it. But the large basin that sat on the floor was something he had never seen before. There was a faucet at one end and some kind of metal object that was fixed to the wall at about head height. There was also a bar extending from one end of the basin to the other that sat a bit higher than the metal object. On the bar was a curtain of some kind that was pushed to one side. Sitting on the edge of the basin were bottles of some kind of substance that almost looked like the liquid soap that he had found in the park bathrooms.

“Here you go, Hobo Heart.” He turned and saw Nyx put a large, fluffy, blue cloth on the counter near the sink before handing him a smaller square piece of fluffy black cloth. “You go ahead and take a bath or shower. There’s still shampoo and conditioner on the edge of the bathtub that you can use. If you need anything, my room is just across the hall.”

“Alright, thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” Nyx smiled and patted his arm before heading out of the room.

Hobo heart watched Nyx close the door behind her and heard her laugh as Reaper Bones yipped at her. Then he turned to look at the basin she had called a bathtub. With a shrug, he turned the handles next to the faucet and watched as water started to flow down the drain. He looked around to see if there was anything to plug the drain with, but didn’t see anything. There was a lever under the faucet and a pull tap on top of the faucet, so he pulled the tap. The water stopped coming out of the faucet and suddenly started falling from the metal thing on the wall.

In the two seconds it took him to push the tab back down, his white hair was soaked. He shook his head a bit to get his hair out of his face before trying the lever under the faucet. There was a soft sound as the water stopped going down the drain and started filling the basin. While the basin filled, he pulled off his shoes and jeans and set them on the lid of the toilet. Then he stepped into the basin and sat down.

After he had finished washing the blood off his skin and out of his hair, Hobo Heart flipped the lever the other way and stepped out of the basin as the water drained. After drying off, he pulled C.C.’s slightly blood stained valentine out of his pants pocket and took it with him as he went into the bedroom and pulled a pair of jeans out of the dresser. He tucked the valentine in the back pocket of the jeans. The waist was too big, like Nyx had said but the belt he found helped. The tee-shirt was also large on him, but he didn’t mind.

Once he was dressed, he looked around for Reaper Bones. The little dog was laying on the bed, still gnawing on Nyx’s rib. Hobo Heart sat on the bed for a while thinking about the black haired woman who had invited him to stay with her.

In looks, she didn’t resemble C.C. at all. C.C. had blond hair and bright green eyes, but Nyx was happy like C.C. had been. She was also curious and accepting, like C.C. She wasn’t scared of him either. She reminded him of C.C. in a lot of ways, like the casual way she would touch him and the way she would pet Reaper Bones.

But in other ways, she was different from C.C. too. She didn’t mind that he killed people. C.C. hadn’t liked that he killed people. Hobo Heart sighed as he laid back on the bed. Reaper Bones snuggled up to his side and gave a happy sigh before falling asleep. Hobo pet his head as he stared out the window.

After Nyx left Hobo Heart in the bathroom and patted Reaper Bones on the head, she headed to her room to get cleaned up. She grabbed a nightie and some panties from the dresser before spotting her cell phone sitting on the dresser. The message light was blinking so she put the clothes on the bed and picked up her phone. Nyx saw that there was a voice message.

“Hey Nyx, guess you’re asleep or dead at the moment. Just wanted to give you the heads up that we aren’t going to be able to visit for a while. A really important mission came up and it’s going to take all of us a while to complete it. Sorry, we’ll hang out when we’re done.”

Nyx shook her head as she listened to Jane’s message. After deleting the message, she sent a quick text to Jane, letting her know that it was fine and that they could hang out whenever they got done with the mission. Then she plugged the phone in and headed to take a shower.

After she showered and dressed, she slid into bed and thought about the man she had invited home with her. Hobo Heart was very handsome, even with the skeletal marking on his face, arms, hands and chest, and his dog was absolutely adorable. She liked that he listened when she talked and that he didn’t ramble on and on about himself like most of the men she had met tended to do.

Nyx also liked that he wasn’t nice to her because of who her father was or because she had money. She smiled as her eyes drifted closed. Hobo Heart had been nice to her because he wanted to be, not because he had to be and not because he wanted something from her. It felt good to have one person who seemed to like her for herself. With the heralds, she knew they were nice because they were afraid, of her and her father. Sure they had fun when they hung out, but Nyx could tell that they were reserved around her.

For once, she had found someone who she could relax around. Someone who made her happy just by being there. Her last thought as sleep pulled her under was that she hoped he liked her as much as she liked him.


	5. Chapter 5

Hobo Heart stared down at Nyx as she turned over in her sleep and smiled. Even in her sleep she was happy. He tilted his head and reached out, picking up a few stands of her long black hair. It was soft, smooth and smelled like lavender. The weak morning sunlight shone in though the white curtains and illuminated her face, making her pale skin seem to glow.

Reaper Bones hopped up on the bed and licked her face. She giggled and scrunched up her nose as her brown eyes opened. Her eyes widened a bit in surprise before she smiled up at Hobo Heart.

“Good morning, Hobo Heart.” She laughed and pet Reaper Bones as he jumped on her chest and nuzzled her chin. “Good morning to you too, Reaper Bones. You’re both up early.”

“Sorry for waking you.” Nyx laughed again as she sat up.

“That’s alright, I had to get up anyway to get ready for work.”

“Work?”

“Yeah, I work Monday through Friday.”

“Oh.” Nyx smiled and patted Hobo Heart’s arm as he dropped her hair.

“I’ll be back tonight. When I get back, we can watch a movie or something.”

“A movie?”

“You haven’t seen a movie before?” Nyx slid out of bed as Hobo Heart shook his head. “Do you know what a movie is?”

“No. What is a movie?” Nyx grabbed a change of clothes before turning back to look at him.

“A movie is a story that you can see. Humans act out the story and other humans record the movie, then they sell it to other people so that they can watch the story play out. Most movies are fake, made up stories. The people acting in the movies aren’t really doing what they seem to be doing. Like horror movies, the people who are killed in the movie aren’t actually being killed. It’s all pretend.”

“Why do they pretend to kill and die?”

“To entertain other people and make money. I don’t really like the movies where people kill other people. There is too much of that in real life, but I like the movies where other things kill people.”

“Why?” Nyx laughed.

“Well, it’s because the creature that’s killing people have a reason for killing them. The reason may not be explained in the movie, but there is a reason. Take vampires for instance. Vampires are supposed to be humans who for some reason came back from the dead and need blood to keep living. Vampires only drink blood to survive, if they didn’t, they would die. I don’t know if vampires are real or if they were made up by humans, but I can’t hate something that is just doing what it has to do to survive.”

“The creatures still kill people.”

“True, but they have to. They don’t necessarily do it because they want to. Besides, humans kill more humans than any other creature that may be out there would have.” Nyx smiled again as she headed to the bathroom to get changed. “I think that if you have a reason for killing, then that’s alright. Besides, it would be a bit hypocritical of me to hate other creatures for killing humans when I’m going to have to start killing them myself in thirty days.”

Hobo Heart nodded as Nyx closed the bathroom door. Nyx understood that sometimes there was no choice in the matter. That sometimes a person just had to kill. C.C. hadn’t understood that. Hobo Heart frowned as he thought about C.C. again. Was that why she had tried to destroy his heart, because she didn’t understand and it scared her? He shook his head and pushed the thought out of his head. C.C. was dead. There was no use in trying to figure out why she turned on him.

He was still standing by Nyx’s bed when she came out of the bathroom. She smiled softly as he stared out the window, looking like he was lost in thought. Even when he was frowning, he looked handsome. Shaking her head, Nyx dropped her nightie and panties into the hamper before crossing the room and laying her hand on Hobo Heart’s shoulder.

“Hey, are you alright?” Hobo Heart looked down at Nyx and gave a small smile.

“I’m alright.”

“I have to make the bed; do you want to help?” Hobo Heart tilted his head and nodded as he watched her smile at him. He watched for a bit to see what he had to do to help make the bed, then followed her lead.

After making the bed, the two of them headed downstairs and Nyx lead him into the kitchen. Nyx offered to fix him some breakfast, but Hobo Heart just shook his head so Nyx fixed herself a bowl of cereal and cooked up some bacon for Reaper Bones.

Before she left for work, she told Hobo Heart to make himself at home and that if he got hungry he could help himself to whatever she had. He nodded and smiled as she waved and drove away.

That night, Nyx walked back into the house, once again covered in blood, her clothes torn and dirty, but she still smiled when she saw Hobo Heart and Reaper Bones sitting in the living room. She set a large plastic shopping bag on the floor and cleared her throat. Hobo Heart was reading a book while Reaper Bones laid at his feet. When Hobo Heart looked up and saw Nyx, he put the book down and walked over to her. He didn’t like seeing her covered in her own blood.

“What happened?” Nyx laughed and shook her head.

“I was just murdered again. This guy was really sick and liked to use saws. It wasn’t as painful as healing after being feed through a wood chipper though, so it wasn’t too bad.”

“I’ll kill him.” Nyx shook her head and laid her hand on his arm.

“Please don’t. Until Mrs. Kirkpatrick dies, I don’t want anyone to die because of me. I only have 29 deaths left.” Hobo Heart stared down at Nyx for a while as she smiled up at him. He sighed as he nodded. “Thanks, Hobo Heart. This is very important to me. Don’t worry though, I remember the face of every person who killed me. They will meet the same death that they gave me when the time is right.”

“Alright.”

“Well, I’ll go clean up, here.” Nyx hand Hobo Heart the plastic bag. “I thought you would like some clothes that would fit better. I also bought some dog food and food dishes for Reaper Bones. I bought them on my lunch break. I also have another present for Reaper Bones. Here boy!”

Hobo Heart shook his head as Nyx pulled a bloody bone out of her pocket and handed it to Reaper Bones. He could tell it was one of her collar bones. Reaper Bones yipped with excitement and licked her hand before he took the bone from her, laid down and started gnawing on it. Nyx laughed and headed upstairs.

That night, Hobo Heart and Nyx watched a movie called “The Labyrinth” and Nyx got Hobo Heart to try some popcorn. Hobo Heart couldn’t help seeing some similarities between Jareth and himself. Both of them had done what the woman they loved had asked and they had both been turned on by the woman. Both of them had been left alone in the end.

“You know, I always thought Sarah was stupid for leaving Jareth.” Hobo Heart looked down at Nyx as she leaned against his shoulder. Nyx smiled up at him as he tilted his head. “Jareth loved her. Sure, it wasn’t nice of him to take Toby, but he did it because she asked him to. He even gave her an opportunity to get him back. He wasn’t very nice at times, but he didn’t understand that you can’t force someone to love you. I think Sarah should have stayed and taught him how to love the right way.”

“The right way?”

“Yes, remember what I said yesterday about real love being selfless. Well, Jareth’s love wasn’t completely selfless in the beginning, but in the end, he still let her go. He had learned that he couldn’t hold her to him if she didn’t want to be there. But Sarah was young. She didn’t understand love either. She didn’t understand that he was trying to show his love for her and it made her angry. But then, she wasn’t in love with him. If she had been, she may have acted differently.”

Hobo nodded as he thought about how angry C.C. had been at him for killing her friends. C.C. had been young too. Maybe she just didn’t understand what he had done for her. He frowned briefly and pushed the thought of C.C. out of his head. He looked back down at Nyx as she yawned.

“You have to work tomorrow. You should get some sleep.” Nyx smiled and nodded.

“Alright. I’ll see you in the morning, Hobo Heart.” Nyx patted Reaper Bones’ head before standing up and stretching. “Good night.”

“Good night, Nyx.”

The next three weeks passed quickly for the two of them. Other than when Jane would leave a voice message, Nyx hadn’t heard from the heralds. This didn’t worry her too much, since she knew they were on a mission.

Every weekday, Nyx would head off to work, get murdered sometime during the day and arrive home covered in blood and gore. She would smile at Hobo Heart and a couple of times a week she would give Reaper Bones one of her bones. They would spend the evenings talking, watching movies or reading. Nyx had decided to sell the advertising company. She had plenty of offers over the seven years since she had taken over and with Mrs. Kirkpatrick’s death approaching, she decided to make a clean break with her old life.

That Friday, after Nyx worked the last day, attended the going away party that her employees had thrown her, and been murdered again, she pulled into the driveway to see Reaper Bones outside by himself. When he saw her, he ran over, circled her legs and tugged at her pants leg before bounding back to the front door.

She had never seen him act like that before and it worried her. She grabbed her purse and cautiously headed into the house. She could hear what sounded like roars of anger and some crashing from the living room. Nyx, worried that something had happened to Hobo Heart, ran into the front room. It took her a second to process what she was seeing. The living room was in shambles. The furniture broken and thrown around, the TV had been impaled with what looked like a broken chair leg. There was blood and some black substance splattered all over the walls and floor. Large black feathers littered the floor.

But what had her heart clench was the sight of Slender and Hobo Heart. Slender’s tentacles were out, his mouth was ripped open showing long, sharp teeth and he had sunken, terrifying eyes. Hobo Heart was roaring with anger as Slender slammed him into the wall. Nyx’s eyes widened as she saw that Slender’s tentacles were posed to impale Hobo Heart as he recovered from the force of the blow.

She didn’t even think about it, she just reacted. Before she even knew what she was going to do, she lunged across the room and threw herself in front of Hobo Heart, Slender’s tentacles pierced her shoulder and she flew back on top of Hobo Heart from the force. Nyx grabbed ahold of the tentacles in her shoulder and held them in place.

“NYX!” Hobo Heart gently cradled her as she glared up at Slender. Reaper Bones growled at Slender as he stood next to the two fallen people. When Slender tried to pull his tentacles out of her grasp, she squeezed her hand and held on.

Slender had been shocked and dismayed when Nyx had thrown herself between him and Hobo Heart. He knew she was in pain and her blood was hot as it coated his tentacles. The shock of hurting Nyx snapped him out of his rage. In seconds his mouth was sealed and his eyes had disappeared once again. All of his tentacles except for the ones in Nyx’s shoulder retracted into his back.

“What the heck is going on here?!” Nyx turned her head and ran worried eyes over Hobo Heart. She was relieved to see that his wounds were repairing themselves and ran her free hand through his hair. “Are you alright, Hobo Heart?”

“Nyx, what is the Gemberling doing here?” Slender’s voice was stern and grim as he took in the way she acted with Hobo Heart. He was surprised and a bit scared as she turned and glared at him again.

“His name is Hobo Heart.” Nyx finally yanked the tentacles out of her shoulder. Fresh blood stained her already ruined shirt. She hissed as a chunk of flesh was ripped out with the tentacles and fell to the floor. “He is here because I invited him to stay with me. Why are you attacking him and destroying my living room?”

“Why would you invite that thing to live with you? After what he did, he deserves to be destroyed.” Slender was shocked when Nyx suddenly jumped to her feet and slapped him across the face.

“Don’t you ever say that again!” Nyx clenched her fist, causing Slender to drop to his knees from the pain of three of his tentacles being crushed. “No matter what Hobo Heart did, I won’t allow anyone to hurt him! If you can’t get along with him then you can leave!”

“Nyx, stop. He has a right to be angry.” Nyx looked back at Hobo Heart as he stood up and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“No matter what he’s angry about, he has no right to hurt you.” Nyx looked over at Slender and with a sigh, released his tentacles. “I consider you my friend, Slender. But if you ever hurt Hobo Heart again, you will be my enemy. Anyone who hurts Hobo Heart is my enemy, do you understand?”

“You wouldn’t feel that way if you knew what he did.” Slender pushed himself back to his feet. “You don’t know…”

“When Hobo Heart is ready to talk about it, I will listen. It is not your place to tell me his secrets.” Nyx sighed and looked around the living room again. “Look, I’ve had a long day and now I have to clean up the living room. You should go, Slender. You’re going to want to ice those tentacles. I talk with you later, once you’ve calmed down and can be reasonable.”

Slender clenched his fist, but nodded and teleported out of the house. Nyx turned in Hobo Heart’s arms and hugged him.

“I’m glad that you’re alright, Hobo Heart.”

“Why did you protect me?” Nyx smiled up at Hobo Heart and leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“Because you’re special to me and I can’t stand to see you hurt.” Hobo Heart smiled and nodded.

“You are special, too Nyx.” Her smile widened as she hugged him again. “No one has ever stood up for me before.”

“I’ll always stand up for you, Hobo Heart.” Nyx laughed as Reaper Bones jumped up and down and yipped at them. “I’ll stand up for you too, Reaper Bones.”

Hobo Heart laughed and let Nyx go. With a sigh the two of them looked around the room and started cleaning. As they cleaned Hobo Heart thought about what Slender had said about how she wouldn’t like him if she knew what he had done. But he thought if anyone could understand than it would be Nyx. He glanced over at her as she picked up pieces of broken furniture. Just as she moved a broken chair, he saw a familiar piece of paper lying on the floor. C.C.’s valentine. As Nyx reached to pick it up, Hobo Heart dove and grabbed it, holding it to his chest.

“Don’t touch it. Never touch it.” Nyx looked at Hobo Heart in shock at the cold tone to his voice. She had never heard him use that tone of voice before.

“Hobo Heart?” The slight quiver to her voice had Hobo Heart look up at her. Seeing the hurt look on her face as she stood there with her hand clenched over her chest, he sighed and shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Nyx. This is just really important to me.”

“Ok, I was just surprised. You’ve never spoke that coldly to me before.” She smiled at him and offered him her hand to help him up. “I just didn’t know what I did to make you angry.”

“You didn’t do anything. It was just a reaction.” Hobo Heart took her hand as he stood up and sighed. “I think I should tell you about why Slender is so angry. I would rather tell you myself than have Slender do it for me.”

“If you want to talk about it, I’ll listen. How about I fix us some hot chocolate before we talk. Hot chocolate always seems to calm me when I have to do something I don’t want to.” Hobo Heart nodded and followed Nyx into the kitchen. He sat at the table as Nyx heated the milk and melted the chocolate into it before mixing in sugar and vanilla.

Once Nyx had set the two mugs down she sat across the table from Hobo Heart and smiled. Hobo Heart sighed as he took a sip of the hot chocolate. Then he started telling her everything. How he was created, what his purpose had been, how he had met C.C., and how he had turned his back on his purpose, allowing the six evil spirits to be released. As he talked, he stared down at the mug of hot chocolate. He was afraid to see her smile fade, to see her look at him with hatred.

It surprised him when she stood up, walked around the table and hugged him. He could feel her hot tears fall on his shoulder as she stood behind him and just kept hugging him.

“Don’t cry, Nyx. Don’t be sad, please don’t be sad.”

“It’s alright to be sad sometimes, Hobo Heart.” He turned his head to look at her. He could see the sadness and the understanding in her eyes. “You’re still special to me. I am so sorry that you had to go through all of that. You shouldn’t have had to endure that pain.”

“I just don’t understand why she tried to destroy my heart after I gave it to her.”

“I know why, Hobo Heart. She was angry and hurt that you killed her friends. She didn’t see that you were trying to protect her. But she was also worried about what would happen if the tree didn’t get the sixth heart. You had told her that your purpose was to prevent something bad from happening. I don’t think that she even thought it through before she acted. She was confused and upset about her friends. If she had had more time to think, she might not have reacted like that, but she was young and scared and in love with the man who had killed her friends. She just reacted.”

“You think she really loved me?”

“Yeah, I do. I think that was part of the reason she was so scared.”

“But you didn’t turn against me like she did.”

“You didn’t kill my friends either. I may have been angry if you had and I may have said or did somethings that I would regret later, but I would have regretted them. She had a lot of things happen in a really short time. The attack, learning what your purpose was, seeing her friends dead and learning that you killed them, if she had lived long enough, she probably would have regretted what she said and did. Just like you regret having to kill her.”

“Why don’t you hate me for turning my back on my purpose?” Nyx smiled sadly at him.

“Because, you were never given a choice. You were created and given this task, but no one thought about what you would want. It’s not right to do that to someone. If you had volunteered for that duty and then turned your back on it, then I would be angry with you. I’m angry at the one who made you for not giving you a choice.” Nyx slid her hand along his cheek and trace his markings. “This was done without your permission or consent and you fulfilled your purpose for over a hundred years. No one should have to bear such a heavy burden for so long, Hobo Heart. I could never hate you for following your heart.”

“But now I have to take a new heart every month. I still have to kill people.”

“Now you can choose who you take. You told me that you take those who don’t value their hearts. Those who cheat on their boyfriend or husband. You aren’t killing innocent people, Hobo Heart.” Nyx smiled down at him. “You need a new heart every month. It’s no different than if you needed to get one transplanted. Someone has to die for you to get another heart. You kill to survive. You don’t kill to be cruel. Why would I hate you for something like that?”

“C.C. did.”

“You can’t judge C.C. by my reactions, Hobo Heart. She didn’t live the same life I have. She wasn’t face with the choice of killing someone or being killed. In my place, she may have started killing after the first few deaths, or she may have gone crazy and had to be permanently kill. We aren’t the same people, Hobo Heart. After all, her mother never tried to kill her and she had two parent who loved her.” Nyx sighed as she let go of Hobo Heart and sat down next to him. “You know, I wasn’t always this happy all the time. Until I died for the first time, and ever for a few months after that, I was sad almost all the time. I would pretend to be happy so that Mrs. Kirkpatrick wouldn’t worry.”

“What changed? You are happy most of the time now.” Nyx laughed a bit and shook her head.

“Did you know that some people believe that when you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes?” Hobo Heart nodded, he had heard of that before. “I don’t know if it’s true for everyone, but it’s true for me. When I died the first time, I thought I knew what was important. I thought that being loved and living a good life was the most important things. What I learned was that being loved isn’t as important as loving someone or something. Love is what makes life so important. Mother didn’t love anything, not even herself. That’s why she valued her looks more than anything else. That’s why she killed us. That’s what my first death taught me. I think most people learn this lesson when they die, but for them it’s too late to change anything. Each death I’ve experienced has given me a greater appreciation for life and love and a greater understanding of why what I’m supposed to be doing is so important.”

“Why is killing important?” Nyx smiled and laid her hand on his.

“Because there are people who can’t protect themselves. There are people who need someone to make their lives safer so that they can learn to love and live. There will always be evil people out there and it’s my duty to protect the innocent people. Death comes to everyone, good, bad or indifferent. But I am not Death, who can’t play favorites. I’m Death’s daughter and I can choose who to take and who to leave.” Nyx stood up and hugged Hobo Heart again before kissing his forehead and turning to leave the room. “Since I get to choose who I kill; I also get to choose who I protect. I will always protect you, Hobo Heart.”

Hobo Heart watched Nyx leave the kitchen and head back to the front room. Her clothes, skin and hair were still stained with her own blood, and some of that blood had been spilt for him. Reaper Bones followed behind her and she laughed as the dog darted around in circles around her. Hobo Heart wasn’t sure how he felt about her promise. He didn’t like seeing her get hurt.

He also wasn’t sure how he felt about her explanation for what C.C. had done. On one hand, it still hurt that she had turned on him. But on the other hand, he knew he still loved her even though she was dead. Shaking his head, Hobo Heart stood up and followed Nyx into the living room. There was still a lot of work to do to repair the damage the fight had caused.


	6. Chapter 6

The next week was difficult for Hobo Heart in some ways, but also more enjoyable. Since Nyx wasn’t working anymore, the two of them spent most of their days together. The only time that they weren’t together was when Nyx would go for a walk in the afternoon. Hobo Heart had wanted to follow her, but he knew that if he had seen her being murdered he wouldn’t be able to keep his promise to not kill the person responsible for her pain. The day before Mrs. Kirkpatrick was supposed to die, Nyx had called her. She told Hobo Heart that she needed to tell Mrs. Kirkpatrick how much she meant to her before she passed away.

That day, after Nyx had called Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Nyx and Hobo Heart had decided to take a walk instead of staying around the house. Nyx was both sad and happy that it was the last day she would have to die. Hobo Heart was just happy that she wouldn’t have to keep dying every day. There had been a few times when he had thought about going and killing Mrs. Kirkpatrick, but he knew that Nyx would not like it if he not only broke his promise but killed the person she loved like a mother.

Nyx and Hobo Heart had been walking through the forest near her house, just enjoying the fresh air and sunshine, when Hobo Heart was hit hard in the chest. He flew back into a tree hard enough to break his spine, leaving him paralyzed while his body started to heal. Nyx, who had been looking down at Reaper Bones, was shocked as she felt a rush of air and heard a loud crack. When she saw Hobo Heart slumped at the base of a tree, his grayish-black skin paler than normal and a pained expression on his face, she started to run to him. However, just as she started moving, her arm was grabbed tightly. She swung around and tried to punch the person keeping her from going to Hobo Heart, but her fist was caught in another hand.

“Enough Nyx.”

“Dad?” Thanatos looked down into his daughters shocked face. “What are you doing?! Let me go! Hobo Heart’s hurt!”

“The Gemberling is going to be dead soon and you aren’t getting near him.” Thanatos’ voice was grim and cold as he glared at Hobo Heart.

“I swear, Dad, if you hurt Hobo Heart again I will never forgive you! NOW LET ME GO!” Nyx jerk out of her father’s hold and ran to Hobo Heart.

“Nyx! Get away from the Gemberling!”

“His name is Hobo Heart and I won’t let you hurt him!”

“You don’t know what he’s done. What damage he’s caused.”

“I know what happened. I know that he let the six evil spirits escape. What I don’t know is why they were seal instead of destroyed! You could have destroyed the spirits, Thanatos! Why didn’t you?!”

“How did you know I was the one who trapped them, and for the love of everything, stop calling me Thanatos when you’re pissed off. I am still your dad.” Hobo Heart looked back and forth between the two arguing people as his spine slowly mended. With all the damage his body had taken, the heart he had was just about worn out. He should have replaced it the day before, but he didn’t want to break his promise to Nyx.

“Please, I know that you personally collect every evil soul and if they are beyond redemption you destroy them so that they can’t spread their evil. So who else would have sealed those spirits. What I want to know is why. You put Hobo Heart through so much pain by imprisoning them.”

“The Gemberling wouldn’t have been created if I hadn’t needed him to keep them sealed. He was supposed to keep six hearts there to feed the tree and keep the spirits imprisoned. He turned his back on that after only a little more than a hundred years.”

“I don’t care about that! I want to know why you sealed them instead of destroying them!”

“Because if even one of them were destroyed, the world and every living thing in it would be destroyed.” Thanatos sighed. “It could still be destroyed with the six spirits on the loose.”

“Why? Tell me what the heck is going on, Dad.”

“I’ll tell you after I kill the Gemberling for turning his back on his purpose.”

“If you want to kill him, you’re going to have to kill me first. Cause if you don’t kill me first I will make you pay for killing Hobo Heart.” Both Hobo Heart and Thanatos froze as Nyx practically growled those words in a tone so cold that it made their blood run cold. “I will not allow anyone to hurt him as long as I live. Now tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“Oh come on, Nyx. Wake up, snap out of it. The Gemberling is going to die soon anyway. Just let me kill him before that human heart gives out.” Nyx frowned and looked back at Hobo Heart. He was still pale and the pained look hadn’t left his face. Her eyes widened as she realized that it had been about a month since they had met, and he hadn’t taken a new heart.

“No, Hobo Heart, why didn’t you collect a new heart?”

“I didn’t want to break my promise.”

“You only promised not to kill anyone because of me.” Nyx knelt next to Hobo Heart and took his hand in hers. “You wouldn’t have been breaking your promise to me if you collected a new heart.”

“I would not have been able to keep from killing the last woman who murdered you.”

“How do you know about her?”

“Reaper Bones.” Nyx laughed even as tears filled her eyes.

“Spied on by a dog.” Nyx sighed and looked over at her dad, who was munching on popcorn while leaning on a tree. She shook her head, not even wanting to know where he got the popcorn. Then looked back down at Hobo Heart. “It didn’t occur to you that by not getting yourself a new heart, you would be breaking your promise, did it?”

“How so?” Hobo Heart frowned as he tried to understand her thinking.

“You didn’t get a new heart because of me, so in a sense, you’re killing yourself because of me. I didn’t want anyone to die because of me, but I especially don’t want you to die.” Nyx smiled at Hobo Heart and brushed the hair out of his face. “So take my heart.”

“Like hell he will!” Thanatos tossed the popcorn aside and growled as he headed over towards them. “You are not giving your heart to him!”

“It’s my heart, Dad. I will give it to whoever I want.” Nyx scowled at Thanatos.

“Do you even know what you’re saying! If you give him your heart willingly you are tying his fate to yours! You will always know what he feels, if he dies, you’ll die!”

“Then you better hope no one kills him, cause I am giving him my heart!”

“Why are you being so stubborn! He’s just a Gemberling!”

“Because I love him! I love Hobo Heart and I won’t let him die!” Thanatos stared down at Nyx in shock as a few tears streaked down her face. “Do you understand now, Dad?! I love him and I will do anything to protect him.”

Hobo Heart reached up and wiped the tears off of Nyx’s face. Hearing her say that she loved him made his heart clench in his chest. He knew he cared about her, wanted to protect her, but he didn’t know if he loved her. He liked spending time with her, but his feelings for her weren’t the same as they had been for C.C.

“I don’t know if I can love you, Nyx. I do care about you. You are special to me. But I don’t know if I can love you.” Nyx smiled down at him and rested her hand on his cheek.

“I know, Hobo Heart. You still love C.C. I understand that. But I still won’t let you die for me. I love you and I want you to live and be happy. So take my heart, freely given.” Thanatos sighed and shook his head. Nyx glared at him for a second. “And Dad, if you hurt one hair on Hobo Heart’s head while I’m dead, I will never forgive you.”

“Fine, obviously there’s nothing I can say to talk sense into you.” Nyx nodded and smiled back down at Hobo Heart.

“It’s kind of fitting that the last day I have to die; I die to save the one I love. At least this death will have meaning.” Nyx looked over at her Dad and raised an eyebrow. “Uh, Dad, a little privacy would be nice. Why don’t you go wait at my place? We’ll meet you there so you can explain what you meant.”

“Yeah, sure, why not.”

“Quit pouting and go. I swear, sometime I act like the parent while you act like a child.”

“You aren’t too old to turn over my knee you know.”

“Yes I am, now go.” Thanatos sighed as he teleported to Nyx’s house. Nyx shook her head as she looked back down at Hobo Heart. “Sorry about my dad.”

“It’s alright.” Hobo Heart slowly sat up as his spine finally finished healing. “Are you sure about giving me your heart?”

Nyx nodded as she stripped off her shirt and bra before lying back on the ground. Hobo Heart nodded back and stripped his shirt off. Then he started the task of removing the stitches that held the hole in his chest closed. Blood started to pour down his chest and coat his hands as he reached into his chest and grasped the dying heart. He laid Beth’s heart on the ground next to Nyx. Then he leaned over and kissed her forehead.

“I already know that you value your heart. Thank you for giving it to me.” Nyx smiled.

“You’re welcome, Hobo Heart. Remember to give Reaper Bones one of my ribs.” He laughed and nodded. Then he slammed his hand as hard as he could into her chest, she clenched her jaw and fists as she felt her ribs break. Again his hand slammed into her chest, she could feel his fingers digging into her flesh and the hot gush of blood slid down her side. The third time he slammed his hand into her chest, the rest of the ribs on her left side broke and he tore chunks of flesh out with his bare hands. Nyx watched a few tears streak down Hobo Heart’s face and with the last of her strength, she reached up and wiped the tears from his face. She smiled up at him as his hand closed around her heart and pulled it from her chest. Hobo Heart watched the light fade from her eyes and her hand fell from his cheek to land next to Beth’s heart.

Hobo Heart placed Nyx’s heart in his chest, pulled the piece of bone from his pocket and held it with his lips as he pulled out strands of her long black hair, laying them out in a neat row. Then he began stitching his chest closed again using Nyx’s soft black hair. He stared down at her the entire time he worked. Once he was done stitching up his chest, he pulled one of her broken ribs out and gave it to Reaper Bones with a pat on the head and settled down to wait for Nyx to wake up.

He could feel her heart beating strongly in his chest, it was much stronger than any of the hearts he had taken before. It didn’t feel as heavy as the other hearts had, it wasn’t weighted down with grief, sadness, and regret.

It was a half an hour before her heart grew back in her chest and started beating. Fresh blood gushed from her still open chest before it started to knit back together. He watched the light come back to her eyes as her outer wounds sealed and her ribs either reattached or grew back. For the second time he watched her deal with the pain in silence and rub at the area where her wounds had been. After a few minutes, Nyx sat up and smiled at him.

“Hi, Hobo Heart. How are you feeling?” Hobo Heart laughed and handed her bra and shirt to her.

“I feel fine. Are you alright?” Nyx laughed and nodded as she pulled her bra and shirt on. Then she hugged him.

“I’m fine.” Hobo Heart hugged her back and stroked her hair. For a few minutes the two of them sat in the forest hugging each other. Then Nyx sighed and pulled back. “We should go. The sooner we find out what Dad was taking about the better.”

Hobo Heart nodded and pulled his shirt back on before picking up Reaper Bones and handing him to Nyx. Then he pulled her into his arms, unfurled his wings and flew them back to her house. Nyx laughed as they flew to her house.

As they landed, Nyx and Hobo Heart saw Thanatos standing on the porch with his arms crossed and his foot tapping, like an anxious father waiting for his teenage daughter to get home from her first date. Nyx sighed as Hobo Heart set her on her feet.

“Ok, so now you can tell us what you meant when you said that if one of the spirits were destroyed the whole world would be destroyed.”

“It’s a long story, so let’s go sit down.” Thanatos sighed and headed into the house. Once they were settled in the kitchen, Thanatos rubbed the back of his neck and started explaining why he couldn’t destroy the evil spirits.

“A long, long time ago, there was a goddess of destruction. She didn’t start out as a goddess of destruction, of course. No god ever starts out evil. Originally she was a goddess of love. But that all changed when her lover was killed. See, she was a very beautiful goddess, long ebony hair, alabaster skin, hour glass figure, high cheek bones, pouty lips, and the most beautiful golden eyes. She could have had any god she wanted as they were all in love with her. Even Zeus wanted her, which really pissed Hera off. But the one god who wanted her most was Cronos.”

“Wait, wasn’t that the leader of the Titans? The one that Zeus, Poseidon and Hades locked away?”

“Well, that’s the story that the humans were told. In truth, Cronos was a primordial god, one of the oldest gods. Anyway, the goddess had fallen in love with a young Norse demi-god, one Oden’s many by-blows. When Cronos learned of this, he was enraged and killed the other god. He wanted her for himself and he wasn’t about to let some other man walk off with the goddess he wanted, especially a demi-god. He really shouldn’t have done that. As soon as the goddess found her lover dead, she went on a rampage. The whole primordial Parthenon was wiped out and half of the humans were destroyed. Even after killing the god who had taken her lover’s life, she wasn’t satisfied. In her pain and anger, she became a goddess of destruction.” Thanatos shook his head. “Zeus, Hades, Poseidon and I asked the Fates what we could do to stop her rampage. They told us that only by sealing her would we be able to stop her. They warned us that we would need six demi gods to volunteer to become a sacrifice. Their spirits would live on and become the seal to keep her locked away. They also warned us that if even one of the spirits were destroyed then the seal would break and she would be free to complete her goal to destroy everything.”

“So the six evil spirits were the volunteers then? Why the hell would six evil demi gods volunteer to be sacrificed?” Nyx shook her head over that bit of logic.

“They weren’t evil at the time. They were just, kind men who wanted to protect the world.”

“What happened to them?” Thanatos looked over at Hobo Heart and sighed.

“While the goddess couldn’t kill the spirits who bound her, she could taint them. She whispered to them from her prison, seeding madness and the thirst for blood and death in their minds. As they fell into her power and they took over the bodies of men so that they could kill to feed the goddess. She was almost powerful enough to break free by the time I was able to seal the spirits in the tree. I had my most powerful priest create a Gemberling to keep the seal from breaking. We all know what happened with that.”

“Yeah, he kept them sealed for over a hundred years and was given no choice in the matter, no reason behind his gruesome burden other than that something bad would happen if he didn’t, and he was left alone and lonely his whole life.” Nyx scowled at Thanatos. “You should have thought about how lonely Hobo Heart would have been.”

“We gave him the dog.”

“Really, Dad, Reaper Bones is a great dog, but he can’t take the place of having even one person as a friend. You, of all people, should know this.”

“Alright, I’m not going to argue with you, Nyx.”

“Because you know I’m right. But the past is done and over with. So what’s being done about the spirits? I assume they are why Slender and the other heralds are so busy.”

“Yes. So far four of the spirits have been recaptured.” Thanatos chuckled. “Jeff and Jane finally got together when Jeff saved Jane from one of the spirits.”

“Good, but let’s focus here, Dad.”

“Fine, once the last two spirits are recaptured the new Gemberling will take over maintaining the new tree of selil prison.”

“New Gemberling?” Thanatos looked over at Hobo Heart as he frowned.

“Well, we couldn’t trust you to take the task back over. This time we are going to keep tabs on the Gemberling. We don’t want her to repeat what you did.”

“That’s enough, Dad. We have more important things to worry about right now. Starting tomorrow I will join the search for the two remaining spirits.” Nyx sighed and rubbed her temples. “Once they are sealed again, we can discuss the new Gemberling you had created. I won’t have her go through what you put Hobo Heart through. It’s cruel and no one deserves to have such a lonely existence.”

“Fine, the two remaining spirits are in the city close to where their prison was. We aren’t sure where in the city they are, but they are there.”

“What else can you tell me about these spirits?”

“They take over the heart of a human and change them, the best way to identify someone whose been taken over are their eyes. The spirits change their host’s eyes to a golden color that has a hypnotic effect. You must not look into their eyes. Other than the brutal and cruel way they kill, their eyes and the smile that never leaves their faces are the only ways to tell who has been possessed.” Nyx looked over at Hobo Heart and smiled. He had a serious look on his face and seemed to be deep in thought.

“Hobo Heart, you don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to.” Hobo Heart looked at Nyx and shook his head.

“I need to go. You don’t know the way and I will be able to help find the spirits. I spent over a hundred years guarding them.”

“When this is over and their sealed again, let’s go somewhere together. We’ll travel together and go where ever you want to go, ok?” Hobo Heart smiled and nodded. Nyx rested her hand on his. Thanatos sighed and stood up.

“Alright, if you’re sure about this I’ll go let the others know.”

“Alright, but warn them about what will happen if they attack Hobo Heart.” Thanatos rolled his eyes and nodded.

“I really don’t know what you see in him, Nyx.”

“And I really don’t need to explain my feelings to you, Dad.” Thanatos shook his head again before teleporting out of the house. Nyx sighed as she stood up.

“Well, if we’re going to join the hunt tomorrow, we should get ready to go.” She smiled as she kissed Hobo Heart’s cheek. “Let’s get cleaned up and packed.”

“Alright.” Hobo Heart stood up and smiled down at Nyx. “And tomorrow I will help you make your first kill.”

“I know just the person to start with, too. What kinds of weapons should I take with us for this hunt? I know that I’ll take a blade, since the most of the humans who killed me used a knife, but what would be the best weapon to use against the souls?”

“I don’t know. I usually kill with my hands.” Hobo Heart looked down at his hands, which were still covered in both of their blood. “I don’t think you would be strong enough to kill like I do, though.”

“I’m not as strong as you are, but I could kill someone with my bare hands. Grandpa had me take self-defense classes while he was alive.” Nyx laughed as Hobo Heart tilted his head with a confused look on his face. “Our family is rich and Grandpa wanted me to be able to defend myself if someone tried to kidnap me.”

“Why didn’t you defend yourself from the people who killed you?”

“Because I would have killed them and I couldn’t do that. Tomorrow I have to start killing. Mrs. Kirkpatrick is going to die at 4:28 am tomorrow.” Nyx sighed and gave Hobo Heart a sad smile. “I’ll get this first kill over with in the morning so we don’t lose much time on the hunt. How far is it from here to the town that we’re heading to?”

“It’s 153 miles south.” Nyx nodded and smiled again.

“Then it will take about 4 hours to drive there, give or take.”

“I’ve never been in a car before.” Nyx laughed as she headed out of the room and up the stairs. Hobo Heart and Reaper Bones followed her.

“It’ll be fun.” He nodded as they went into their separate rooms to clean up. After Nyx cleaned up and changed she packed a few changes of clothes in a duffle bag, gathered up Reaper Bones’ bowls, food and toys, and took them out to the car.

Hobo Heart was waiting for her at the door when she started back up to the house. She smiled and took his hand, leading him into the library.

“No one else knows about this.” Nyx laughed as she reached up and pulled a book out of the bookcase. She then reached in the gap and pressed a small button in the back of the bookcase. Hobo Heart watched curiously as the bookshelf silently swung forward, exposing a dark space. Nyx pulled him into the dark space and whistled three notes. Just as the bookshelf swung closed, a light turned on, illuminating the room.

The walls were covered with gun cases, swords, spears, bows and arrows, war axes and Warhammers. There were cases of different kinds of explosives, from TNT to grenades and even landmines. He had never seen such a collection of weapons, and turned to looked down at the smiling, black haired woman next to him.

“This was Grandpa’s collection. He showed it to me a few years before he died.” Nyx smiled as she lifted a small hand held crossbow off the wall. “He had me practice with a lot of these, especially the guns and bows.”

“Why?”

“Grandpa was a very nice man, but like every business man, he had enemies. He was prepared for anything that could happen, except for the stroke that killed him. Mother had never been willing to take the self-defense classes that I took, so most of the people Mother traveled with were really body guards. If I hadn’t excelled in my classes, I would have been followed around everywhere by body guards too.” Nyx sighed as she smiled. “It’s almost like I was training to kill people since I was a kid.”

Hobo Heart nodded and looked around. Nyx started packing up some of the weapons. He stopped her from packing the machine gun and the explosives though.

“We don’t want to destroy the hearts that the spirits have taken over. That would only free them again.” Nyx nodded and put the grenades back in their case.

“So we stick with blades then.” She pulled out a few different daggers, a scimitar and pulled a large Warhammer off the wall. Hobo Heart was surprised with how easily she lifted the Warhammer. Nyx laughed as she looked over at him. “It’s for my target tomorrow. I don’t have a baseball bat and I’ll use his own wood chipper.”

“Why a baseball bat and a wood chipper?” Nyx grinned as she rested the Warhammer on her shoulder and looked into Hobo Heart’s beautiful blue eyes.

“Because that’s how he killed me. He beat me to death with the baseball bat and tossed my body in the wood chipper. I want him to suffer as he made me suffer, so I’ll just beat him to a pulp with the Warhammer and toss him in his wood chipper before he dies.” Nyx shuddered as she remembered the pain from her entire body being reformed from the pieces she had been in. “The death itself wasn’t too bad, but the healing hurt like heck.”

“I imagine it would.” Hobo Heart shook his head as he thought about the deaths she had experienced after they had met. All of them were gruesome and painful.

Nyx felt a flash of bitter anger and sorrow like an arrow to her heart as she saw his fists clench. She laid the hammer on the table and wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her head on his chest.

“It’s alright, Hobo Heart. I’m fine and it was worth the pain. Please don’t feel bad for me.” She listened to the steady beat of his heart as he hugged her back and stroked her hair.

“I could have saved you the pain you experienced this last month.” Nyx smiled and shook her head.

“I know, but I could have saved myself the pain too. None of this is your fault.” She reached up and cupped his cheek, running her thumb over his cheek bone. “You were here for me when I came home. I had that to look forward to, so I didn’t mind.”

Hobo Heart nodded and Nyx felt the anger and sorrow ease. She smiled again and closed her eyes as she leaned against him. Though his skin was cold, to Nyx it felt like heaven. She loved the gentle way he stroked her hair and how safe he made her feel. The two of them stood like that for a few minutes, until Reaper Bones yipped and tugged on Nyx’s pants leg. She laughed as she left Hobo Heart’s arms.

“I’ll take him out.” Hobo Heart picked up the small dog and turned towards where the door was.

“Just whistle the same notes I did when we came in.” Nyx picked up the weapons she had packed, rested the Warhammer on her shoulder again and turned to follow Hobo Heart out of the room. “I think you should know how to get in and out of this room in case you ever need to get something from here.”

Hobo Heart nodded and whistled the three notes that Nyx had. The door swung open and the light turned off. Nyx stored the weapons in the trunk of the car before joining Hobo Heart as he watched Reaper Bones run around the yard.

Hobo Heart watched Nyx out of the corner of his eye. He liked how she wasn’t afraid to be with him and how she had been willing to give up her heart to save him. She had willingly tied her life to his. She loved him and wanted to protect him, just like had wanted to protect C.C. He frowned as he thought of C.C. He still loved her even though he was angry at what she had done. He knew he should let go of her memory, she was dead. But his heart wouldn’t listen to reason. Nyx leaned against his side and rested her head on his upper arm. When he looked down at her, she smiled sadly up at him, his own pain, anger and sorrow were reflected in her warm brown eyes. He felt bad that she was experiencing his own pain and shook the thought of C.C. out of his head.

“Sorry.” She smiled and shook her head again.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Hobo Heart. You can’t help how you feel and you shouldn’t have to apologize for the way you feel.” Hobo Heart gave her a small smile and nodded. “Let’s head in for the night. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

Hobo Heart hesitated for a second as he thought about their plans. They would be heading back to the town he had met C.C. in. He firmly shoved the thought aside and nodded down at Nyx. The sun was starting to set and the soft rays of the late day sun made her pale skin seem to glow. Her warm brown eyes were filled with gentleness and love as she smiled at him. She was a beautiful woman who understood him and the value of a heart.

As she turned to head back into the house, Hobo Heart stopped her. She looked up at him in surprise as he lowered his head and kissed her. A second passed before Nyx melted into the kiss, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with all the love she felt in her heart for him. Hobo Heart wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him as he felt her tongue stroke his bottom lip. Instinctively, he parted his lips and groaned as her tongue caressed his. This kiss was very different from the one he had shared with C.C.

Nyx’s eyes closed as she ran her fingers through his hair. She felt him bury his hand in her hair as the kiss grew deeper and more intense. She felt like every nerve in her body was tingling. She had been kissed before, but nothing compared to the way Hobo Heart’s kiss made her feel. She didn’t know how much time had passed before the kiss ended. For a minute she cursed the need to breathe that forced their lips to part.

Nyx leaned against his chest and smiled up at him as she opened her eyes. She felt like her legs would buckle if she had to stand on her own. She stroked his cheek as she smiled up into his gentle eyes.

“I don’t know if I can love you, Nyx.” Pain flared briefly in her heart, but she pushed it away. “I care about you and you are special to me.”

“I know, Hobo Heart. I understand.” She sighed as she pulled back and smiled up at him.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“It’s alright.” Nyx leaned her forehead against his chest. “I can wait for you to figure things out. As long as you’re happy, I’ll be happy.”

Hobo Heart stared down at the top of Nyx’s head and stroked her hair as he smiled.

“I want to try to learn to love you.” Nyx looked up at him. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were bright pink. Then she smiled at him, her eyes sparkled in the fading light as she took his hand.

“I hope you can learn to love me, Hobo Heart.” The two of them followed Reaper Bones into the house and up the stairs. As Hobo Heart turned to go to his room, Nyx squeezed his hand and looked up at him with a blush still staining her checks. “Hobo Heart, could you stay with me?”

Hobo Heart tilted his head in confusion for a minute.

“I’m already staying with you.” Nyx laughed briefly and shook her head.

“Sorry, I mean will you stay with me in my room? I…” Her face was bright pink as she looked up at Hobo Heart. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

“Alright. I’ll just get Reaper Bones settled, change and be right back.” Hobo Heart smiled and nodded before turning toward his room again. He opened the door and let his dog in. Reaper Bones ran into the room and flopped down on the small dog bed that Nyx had bought for him.

By the time that Hobo Heart had changed into the sweatpants Nyx had bought him and entered Nyx’s room, she had already changed into one of her nighties and was sitting on the bed. The overhead light was off, but she had the lamp turned on. Nyx looked up and smiled as Hobo Heart closed the door and crossed the room.

“Thanks, Hobo Heart.”

“It’s alright. I don’t mind staying here with you.” He could see a bit of sadness in her eyes even as she smiled up at him. She looked so fragile sitting there, so Hobo Heart sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms again.

“I’m really going to miss her.”

“I know.” Hobo Heart stroked Nyx’s hair as he stood up with her in his arms. Then he pulled the covers back and slid into bed while still holding her to his chest. After pulling the covers over them, he turned the light off. “I am sorry that you aren’t going to be able to see her again.”

“Me too, but it wouldn’t have been fair to her children if they didn’t get to spend her last few months with her.”

“Sleep, Nyx. We have a long day tomorrow.” Nyx smiled and nodded against his chest before closing her eyes.

“Goodnight, Hobo Heart.”

“Good night, Nyx.” Hobo Heart stroked her hair and back until her breathing evened out in sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Nyx was woken up by her cellphone ringing the next morning. She yawned as she reached over Hobo Heart and pulled the phone off the nightstand. It was 7 am and she sighed as she answered the phone. Kevin was on the phone, letting Nyx know that Mrs. Kirkpatrick had passed away in her sleep.

Even though she had known that Mrs. Kirkpatrick was going to die, Nyx still gasped and started crying. Hobo Heart sat up and wrapped his arms around her, stoking her hair as she asked Kevin what happened and told him how sorry she was that Mrs. Kirkpatrick was gone and that she would be missed. She told Kevin that she would fly down for the funeral if she was able to get away.

After she hung up the phone, she leaned into Hobo Heart’s chest and sobbed. Her tears were a mixture of grief for losing the woman who had raised her and relief that she wasn’t going to be murdered everyday anymore. Hobo Heart just held her until her tears stopped. She smiled up at Hobo Heart as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Thanks, Hobo Heart. I’ll be ok now.” He nodded and kissed her forehead before they both slid out of bed. “We need to get moving now.”

“I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes.” Nyx nodded and kissed his cheek before heading to get changed for the day.

“I’ll be there shortly.” She changed into a pair of black jeans, a black tee-shirt that said ‘I don’t suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it’ across the front and a pair of black hiking boots. After pulling her hair up in a ponytail, she grabbed her phone, keys and her purse and headed outside.

Hobo Heart was already outside, dressed in dark gray jeans, his old shoes, and a light gray hoody. Reaper Bones was running around the yard and Nyx laughed as he chased a squirrel up a tree. Hobo Heart nodded at Nyx and whistled for Reaper Bones before following her to the car.

After showing Hobo Heart how to buckle his seatbelt, Nyx started the car and pulled out of her driveway, heading south. A half an hour later, Nyx turned onto a small dirt road and parked.

“It’s about a fifteen-minute walk from here to our destination.” Hobo Heart nodded as they got out of the car. Nyx popped the trunk and pulled out the Warhammer and slung it over her shoulder. Reaper Bones jumped up on her leg and she patted his head as she laughed.

They were quiet as they walked up the dirt road to a shabby, rundown house. Nyx could see the tall, brown-haired man who had beat her to death in the back yard, feeding a tree branch into the wood chipper. Nyx took a deep, calming breath before heading around the side of the house. Hobo Heart briefly rested his hand on her shoulder and she smiled back at him over her shoulder before nodding and stepping into the back yard.

The look on the man’s face when he saw her almost made Nyx laugh. His beady green eyes looked ready to pop out of his head and his jaw dropped. His face turned pale as she grinned and lifted the Warhammer off her shoulder.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. What’s the matter?” Nyx laughed as the man pissed his pants. Hobo Heart shook his head at the sight and leaned against the side of the house. “You know, you really should choose your victims more carefully. You never know when one of them is going to turn back up.”

Nyx darted across the yard and swung the Warhammer as the man turned to run. The sickening thud and crack as the hammer connected with his left leg was almost drowned out by his high-pitch scream. The bone was sticking out of his leg and blood splattered everywhere as the man tried in vain to crawl away.

Nyx shook her head as she lifted the hammer again and smashed his right leg. The man’s screams of pain grew higher pitched each time she lifted the hammer and shattered another bone. After shattering both his legs and arms, Nyx leaned the hammer against the wood chipper and hunched down next to the man.

“You know, if you hadn’t killed me you wouldn’t have to suffer the fate you gave me. You weren’t scheduled to die for another four years, seven months, one week, three days, ten hours, twenty-seven minutes and eleven seconds.” Nyx grabbed the collar of the man’s shirt and lifted him up as she stood.

Showing more strength than Hobo Heart thought possible, Nyx dragged the man over to the wood chipper, picked him up as if he were a bag of dog food and tossed him into the wood chipper head first. In seconds, the man’s scream finally stopped and little chunks of him were blasted out onto the pile of wood chips. Nyx feed another branch through the wood chipper to make sure all of the man’s body had gotten though.

Hobo Heart started across the yard as she turned to smile at him. The smile died fast as she saw a woman step out from around the corner of the house and aim a shot gun at Hobo Heart. She leapt across the space and tackled the woman just as she pulled the trigger.

Pain briefly tore through her chest, but she ignored it as she wrenched the gun from the woman’s hands with her right hand as the heel of her left hand slammed into the woman’s nose, breaking it and shoving the shards of broken bone and cartilage up into the woman’s brain. The woman barely had time to register what happened before she died.

Nyx pushed herself up off the dead woman as Hobo Heart pulled her into his arms. Reaper Bones whined and licked her fingers as Hobo Heart checked her over. He had seen the bullet tear through her chest and out her back. However, other than the holes in the front and back of her shirt and a little bit of blood, there was no injury to be seen.

“How?” Nyx looked up at Hobo Heart and then down at her ruined shirt. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped.

“What did you expect?” Thanatos laughed as he strolled out of the forest. “You’re my daughter and you finally stopped denying your powers. Healing from an injury will only take a matter of minutes now. Of course, I heal in a matter of seconds, but then I am a god.”

Nyx rolled her eyes as she stood up. Hobo Heart stood up next to her as Thanatos walked over to the bloody wood chip pile and collected a sullen gray orb before heading for the woman’s body and collecting a white orb.

“So you’re here to collect their souls in person, Dad.”

“Nah, I came to see you’re first kill.” Thanatos smiled at Nyx as he straitened up and kissed the top of her head. “I missed your first smile, your first word, your first steps, your first pimp, I didn’t get to threaten your first boyfriend when he came to pick you up for your first date, so there was no way I was missing out on your first kill.”

“That’s sweet in a very weird way, Dad.” Nyx shook her head as she smiled at Thanatos.

“Well, you’re my baby girl.” Thanatos smiled coldly down at the two souls in his hands. “While I have to be impartial when they are alive, once a human being dies, I decide what happens to their souls. And any human who hurts my baby girl will be destroyed.”

Thanatos closed his fists around the two souls and black flames encased them. Nyx could hear the terrified screams of the two souls as they slowly burned. After a minute, the screams stopped, the black flames died and Thanatos opened his hands, letting a fine ash scatter on the wind.

“Well, my job is done for now. I’ll see you later, sweetie. Hades and Persephone are having the Furies and I over for poker night and I have to clear up my work load.” Thanatos kissed the top of Nyx’s head again before glaring at Hobo Heart. “You better be thankful that she gave her heart to you, Gemberling, or I would have killed you for not keeping her safe.”

“DAD! Knock it off. His name is Hobo Heart and it’s not his fault that the woman shot me. She was aiming for him.” Thanatos rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“He would have lived even if he had been shot.” Nyx sighed and shook her head as Thanatos teleported away.

“He’s right, I would have lived.”

“I know. I just can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt.”

“I don’t like you getting hurt either, Nyx.” Nyx smiled up at him and nodded as she leaned against his side.

“I’ll try not to get hurt, Hobo Heart, but I can’t help wanting to protect you, even if you don’t really need to be protected.” Hobo Heart nodded and smiled before kissing her forehead.

“Alright.” Hobo Heart took her hand and they headed back to the car.

The rest of the trip back to the city near the old tree of selil prison seemed to fly by as Nyx and Hobo Heart listened to music and talked about their lives. They talked about all the places they wanted to see and all the things they wanted to do. Before they knew it, they had arrived in the city. Nyx check for places to rent on her phone and found a cabin not too far from the city that was available.

After calling the owner and transferring the money to his account, they met up with the old man at the cabin and collected the keys. Hobo Heart was careful to keep his hood up so that he didn’t frighten the old man, though the man was sad, just like every other human he had meet, except for C.C. and Nyx. After unpacking, the two of them headed out to search for the evil spirits.

It was a week later that they came across a familiar alley. Like every morning since their search had begun, Nyx would hunt down and kill someone who had hurt others. Some days, Hobo Heart would help her with the kill, usually if there was more than the one person around. Other days, he would just keep watch to make sure that they weren’t surprised again. After that, they would go clean up and start their search again.

As they were walking down a quiet neighborhood street, Reaper Bones barked and darted into the alleyway. Hobo Heart and Nyx followed, not wanting the little dog to get lost. Reaper Bones pawed at something under a dumpster, close to an old milk crate. Nyx felt pain and sadness slice through her heart and looked over at Hobo Heart. He was staring at the milk crate with a sad frown on his face.

“Hobo? What’s wrong?” Hobo Heart looked into Nyx’s concerned eyes and shook his head.

“This is where I met C.C., where she gave me my name and where she asked me to give her my heart.” Nyx took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Do you want to go see her?” Hobo Heart’s eyes widened as she smiled gently at him. “We could go together.”

He thought about it for a minute before nodding and leading her out of the alley. As they walked, he told her about the time he had taken C.C. to see the tree and how she started spending less time with him after that and spent more time with her friends. He showed her the lake where they had spent so much time.

Hobo Heart talked about C.C. as they walked. Nyx felt the love, sadness, grief and wistfulness that Hobo Heart felt for C.C. and she smiled even though it hurt to hear and feel the love he had for C.C. When they finally arrived at the tree, the amount of guilt and sorrow Hobo Heart felt almost made Nyx cry.

The burnt out husk of the tree was massive and the tangled roots were starting to decay, but they were still able to enter the room that used to be his home. As he started to head for one corner of the room, Nyx felt Hobo Heart start to panic. He looked around, almost frantically.

“Where is she. She was right here. This is where I killed her.” Nyx felt her stomach sink as she saw a wooden bowl with a white residue laying on the ground near where Hobo Heart said C.C. had been. She felt disbelief, rage, pain and happiness come from Hobo Heart as he stopped and stared. She sank to her knees as turned to see a female Gemberling standing in the entryway. Her long hair was pure white, like Hobo Heart, her skin was ashy gray with a stark white skull on her face, but it was her eyes that broke Nyx’s heart. They were bright, emerald green, just like Hobo Heart had described C.C.’s eyes, but they were blank.

“C.C.” Hobo Heart had never been so happy and angry at the same time. He could tell that she didn’t remember him. Her eyes held nothing, no memories, no anger, no love, they were empty. In the few seconds that it took him to process that his C.C. was the new Gemberling that Thanatos had mentioned, C.C. lunged across the room and tackled Hobo Heart. In the process, Nyx was knocked across the room and hear a loud crack as her spine snapped from hitting the tree.

Hobo Heart’s rage and pain hurt almost as much as having her spine broken. She could feel it starting to heal, but she still couldn’t move. Hobo Heart was beyond pissed as C.C. tried to rip his heart out. He had already given his heart to her twice and now she wanted to take it a third time. They struggled against each other’s strength until their eyes locked together. For a second, Hobo Heart saw a small glimmer of C.C. in her eyes, but just as quickly, it was gone and she ran away. He didn’t even think before he chased after her. Reaper Bones growled and tried to stop him from following C.C., but all he could think about was finding her, saving her from the life he had lived, and getting her memories back.

A few tears fell from Nyx’s eyes as she watched Hobo Heart chase after C.C. As soon as her spine healed, she ran out of the room, but she couldn’t see a trace of Hobo Heart anywhere. She was about to head back to the cabin, when she heard Reaper Bones’ barking. She felt Hobo Heart’s love and anguish, his confusion and his pain. She briefly closed her eyes before clenching her fists and running towards the sound of Reaper Bones’ barking.

When she found Reaper Bones, he was standing outside of a house. The door was standing open but Reaper Bones waited until Nyx arrived before darting inside. Nyx pulled her dagger out of her boot before following the little dog in. She heard shouts and roars of anger and pain and felt Hobo Heart’s rage and worry as she ran down the hall.

She paused for a second, taking in the scene. Hobo Heart was struggling to get to C.C. while a man with a sickening smile on his face and golden yellow eyes held him trapped. C.C. was against a wall, with another golden eyed smiling man tearing at her chest. There was a third man in the room, dressed in a police uniform, like the man who was struggling to keep Hobo Heart from reaching C.C., crumpled on the floor and there were two dead bodies, one male and one female laying on the ground near the bed.

Seeing that Hobo Heart wasn’t hurt and knowing he was more worried about C.C., Nyx lunged at the man attacking C.C. She was surprised that he batted her away like a fly, but she quickly collected herself again and charged again. This time, when he moved to strike her, she grabbed his arm and quickly twisted around, using his own strength to throw him across the room. He was quick to get up and even faster as he charged her again. Nyx didn’t even get a chance to counter his attack before she was slammed against the wall, once again, she heard a sickening crack and crumpled to the floor as her spine was snapped. The man kept smiling as he walked back over to C.C. and tore her heart out.

Hobo Heart roared as he watched Nyx hit the wall and C.C.’s heart torn out. Even without a head, the evil spirit in the man he was struggling with held on. Just as he freed himself by tearing the man’s arms off, the second spirit darted out the window and vanished. Hobo Heart ran over to the two fallen women. His heart was breaking as C.C. called his name.

“Hobo.” He looked over at Nyx and she smiled gently at him. “Take my heart and give it to C.C.”

“Why?” Hobo Heart’s eyes widened as she reached up and cupped his cheek.

“You love her.”

“But you love me.”

“I do love you. But love is a bird, remember. So take my heart and save her. Take her to the cabin. I’ll be right behind you.” Hobo Heart nodded as he remembered the song she had sung the day they met. “It’ll be alright.”

“Thank you, Nyx.” For the second time, Hobo Heart broke open Nyx’s chest and took her heart. He carefully placed Nyx’s heart in C.C.’s chest and used Nyx’s hair to stitch the wound closed. He could already see Nyx’s heart growing back as he gathered C.C. into his arms and walked out of the room. Once he was outside, he flew to the cabin with C.C. still cradled in his arms. Reaper Bones followed from the ground.

Nyx held in a sigh as her consciousness returned. She knew that something was wrong. There was the faint sound of someone walking around in the room. She lifted her lids just wide enough to see what was going on. The second man, the one who had taken C.C.’s heart had come back and was cutting the heart out of the headless, armless man’s chest. Thinking quickly, Nyx quietly grabbed her dagger from the floor, stood up and snuck up behind the man. With one quick motion, she sliced through the back of his neck and severed his spinal cord. The man fell as he lost all control of his borrowed body and even though he kept smiling, he looked shocked.

Grabbing the gun that the headless man still held in his detached hand, Nyx quickly shot the smiling man in the head and then sunk her dagger into his chest. She grimaced as the man’s blood soaked her jeans. Once the gash was large enough for her hand, she reached into his chest and broke the ribs out of the way before pulling out his black, twisted heart. She tucked it inside one of her hoody pockets before grabbing the other heart and putting it in the other pocket. 

“Well, that was anti-climactic.” Nyx rolled her eyes as she turned to see Thanatos leaning against the wall eating popcorn.

“Dad, how long were you there?”

“I only arrived in time to see you sever his spine, shot him in the head and remove both hearts.”

“You could have helped, you know.”

“Sorry, sweetie, you know I can’t interfere with the living.”

“You can interfere plenty, like when you tried to kill Hobo Heart.”

“That was different.”

“Tell me, Dad, why did you have your priests use C.C. to replace Hobo Heart.” Thanatos scratched the back of his neck as Nyx glared at him.

“Well, she created the mess, it was only fair that she cleaned it up.”

“She didn’t create this mess, Cronos did when he put his own selfish wants first. Place the blame where it belongs, not on Hobo Heart and C.C.”

“Speaking of which, where are the Gemberlings?”

“They’re at the cabin I rented. I told Hobo Heart to take her there so she was safe while she healed.” Nyx smirked as Thanatos tilted his head. “She’s free now, Dad and if you kill her, you’ll be killing me too.”

“What! Don’t tell me you gave her your heart too!” Thanatos groaned as he run his hand down his face. “Why, Nyx?”

“I had to. This asshole took her heart and ran off.” Nyx kicked the dead man.

“You could have let her die.”

“No, I couldn’t.” She smiled sadly. “He loves her and she loves him.”

“Always the bleeding heart, Nyx, when are you going to stop putting everyone you love before yourself.”

“Never, Dad. After all, love is a bird.” Nyx laughed a bit as she walked past Thanatos and headed out of the house. “Real love is selfless, Dad.”

When Nyx finally made it back to the cabin, Hobo Heart and Reaper Bones met her at the door. She smiled at the two of them as they took in her blood soaked clothes.

“What happened?”

“Well, the bastard who took C.C.’s heart came back for the other spirit’s heart, I got them.”

“So now we just need to seal them in the new tree of selil prison.” Nyx could feel his worry as they entered the living room and he glanced over at C.C. who was unconscious before looking back at Nyx.

“Hey, don’t worry, Hobo.” Nyx patted his back. “You don’t think I would let C.C. get stuck with the task of keeping them sealed, do you?”

“Then who will keep them sealed?”

“I have someone in mind, but I’ll tell you after we get the sealed again. Dad showed up to eat popcorn as I retrieved the last two spirits, so I’m sure he’ll show up soon.”

“Hobo.” Nyx and Hobo Heart looked over at C.C. as she started to sit up on the couch.

“I’ll just leave you two to talk. I know you have a lot to talk about.” Nyx smiled as she headed into the kitchen.

“Nyx.” Nyx looked back over her shoulder. She could feel the conflicting emotions both of them were feeling.

“I’m fine, Hobo. Don’t worry.” She smiled at C.C. “I’m glad that you’re both ok.”

C.C. and Hobo Heart were quiet for a while after Nyx left the room. Neither of them knew what to say. Finally, Hobo Heart pulled the valentine out of his back pocket and handed it to C.C. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood stained valentine.

“You kept it.” Hobo Heart nodded.

“I missed you, C.C. I’m sorry that I killed you.”

“Are you sorry for killing my friends?”

“No, but I am sorry that I hurt you. I was trying to protect you. They weren’t good for you. They didn’t care about how you felt.” C.C. sighed and nodded as she thought about what had happened when they had met. Elizabeth had ignored what she had wanted and pushed her into going out with Jim even though she hadn’t wanted to. Mike had only thought about getting time alone with Elizabeth. Britany and Glen had been the same way and Jim had only wanted to get in her pants.

“I know that now. But back then, I didn’t realize what they were doing. I cared about them.” C.C. ran her finger over the valentine.

“I was really angry at you, when I killed you. I gave you my heart because I valued it, like I valued you and you wanted to destroy it. I thought you would protect it.” C.C. looked over at Hobo Heart as he sighed. “Nyx told me that you didn’t mean for me to actually give my heart to you. She told me it was a metaphor and what you really wanted was to know if I loved you.”

“I didn’t realize that you would take it literally.”

“Before you, I didn’t get to talk to many people. The only one who had talked to me was my creator when he gave me my purpose. I didn’t know what a metaphor was.”

“You really like Nyx, don’t you Hobo.” C.C. stared at her hands as she waited for his answer.

“I care about her, she’s special to me, but as much as I tried I couldn’t love her.” Hobo Heart took C.C.’s hands in his and smiled when she looked up. “I couldn’t love her because I love you, C.C. I have since the day we met.”

“I love you too, Hobo. I am so, so sorry for what I said and did.” Hobo Heart cupped her cheek and wiped away her tears with his thumb. “I was just so hurt, angry, and confused.”

“I understand that now. When I told Nyx about what happened, she explained it to me.”

“Nyx taught you a lot then.”

“Yes, she even gave me her heart twice. Once to save my life and once to save your life.” C.C. tilted her head in confusion.

“How is that possible and why did she give us her heart?” Hobo Heart smiled sadly as he told C.C. about the time he had spent with Nyx. He didn’t leave anything out, not even the kiss they had shared. C.C. hadn’t liked hearing that Hobo Heart had kissed the other woman, but then he had actually seen her kiss Jim once.

“If she loves you, why did she save me?”

“She saved you because she knows I love you. She says real love is selfless and that if you really love someone, you let them follow their own heart even if it takes them away from you.”

“She’s a better woman than I am.” C.C. sighed as she leaned against Hobo Heart’s side. “I don’t think I could do the same in her place.”

“You aren’t in her place, C.C. You aren’t Nyx and Nyx isn’t you. She told me not to judge your actions by hers since she had a different life than you did.” Hobo Heart stroked her long white hair out of her face and kissed her forehead as he wrapped his arms around her. “I know I could never give you up, not again. I thought about you all the time C.C.”

“I can’t give you up either, Hobo.”

“That’s all really touching but we have more important things to discuss.” Hobo Heart and C.C. turned to see Thanatos glaring at them from the doorway. Hobo Heart pulled C.C. closer to him, as if to shield her from Thanatos. Nyx, who had felt both C.C. and Hobo Heart’s worry, stepped out of the kitchen and sighed as she saw Thanatos glaring at Hobo Heart and C.C.

“Enough, Dad, let’s get these spirits sealed again so we can all get on with our lives.”

“It will have to wait until my priests create another Gemberling, since you refuse to let C.C. take over the task.”

“No, Dad. No more creating Gemberlings. You’re grounded since you can’t play nice.” Nyx, C.C. and Hobo Heart laughed as Thanatos’ jaw dropped.

“You can’t ground me. I’m your father.”

“Well when you stop acting like a child I’ll stop treating you like one.” Nyx smirked as Thanatos sputtered. “Now let get these spirits to the new tree of selil prison. Once we’re there, I’ll let you know what I have in mind.”

“Now wait just a minute, Nyx. I’m the god here so I get to decide what happens.”

“Dad, it’s painfully obvious that you haven’t spent much time with living people. So let me ask you this, would Hades try to order Persephone around?”

“No, if he tried she would castrate him.”

“Then what makes you think I would be any different. After all, I am your daughter.   
Don’t make me do something I will regret later.” Even though she spoke softly and smiled sweetly, Thanatos paled and nodded. “Good, now where is the new tree of selil prison?”

“It’s close to Slender’s mansion. I figured it would be better to have the heralds close to keep an eye on C.C. while she feed the seal.”

“Ok, so we’ll met you at my house in a few hours then.”

“Nah, I’ll just teleport us all there.” Thanatos sighed. “I’ll bring you back for your car later.”

Nyx nodded and picked up Reaper Bones before turning to hand him to Hobo Heart. Even though it hurt to see the two of them holding hands, she was glad that they were both happy. In seconds they were deep in the forest standing before a large tree. It wasn’t as large as the previous prison, but still large enough to house a small room in it’s trunk.

C.C., Hobo Heart and Nyx followed Thanatos into the tree. There were six pedestals arranged in a circle around the room. On top of each pedestal was an obsidian bowl and at the base of each pedestal was a tangled clump of roots. Four of the six bowls held black, twisted hearts. In the center of the room stood Slender. When he saw Thanatos, Nyx, C.C. and Hobo Heart enter, he tilted his head.

“Why is he here?” Nyx sighed and shook her head.

“Ok, that is enough. I will not have you guys taking this out on Hobo Heart or C.C. If you can’t get along, then just keep quiet. Dad, start the sealing ritual and let’s get this over with.”

“Nyx, I need a keeper to bind the sealing ritual to and since you won’t let me make another Gemberling, I don’t have anyone to bind it to.”

“Yes, Dad, you do.” Nyx sighed before smiling at Hobo Heart and C.C. “Gemberlings are created with no choice and that is not right. Hobo Heart spent over a hundred years alone and now that he’s free and happy, I will not allow anyone else to be forced into this duty.”

“Well it’s not like anyone would volunteer for this duty, Nyx.”

“Which is why you and everyone else should be ashamed of yourselves for the way you’ve been treating Hobo Heart and C.C. No even you would volunteer for this task and to expect anyone to keep doing this when they never wanted this burden is cruel.” Nyx pulled the last two tainted heart out of her hoody pocket and placed them in the two obsidian bowls. “That’s why I will take their place.”

Everyone was silent for a few minutes as they stared at Nyx. She felt Hobo Heart and C.C.’s shock and worry so she smiled at them.

“Nyx.” She shook her head as Hobo Heart started to speak.

“I’ll be fine, Hobo. I have to kill people anyway. This way their deaths will serve a good cause. You and C.C. are free now. You can finally have the life you deserve, fill with love and happiness.”

“Damn it, Nyx! Stop being so self-sacrificing!” Thanatos stormed across the room and pulled her into his arms. “You’re my daughter, do you think I’ll let you throw your whole life away.”

“Dad, I can’t let someone else be forced to bare this burden. This is my choice to make and I choose to take over this role.”

“You will have to keep the tree supplied with fresh hearts, Nyx. Every month, six grieving hearts and their bodies must be feed to the tree. Criminals aren’t likely to be grieving.” Nyx shook her head at Thanatos as she pulled out of his arms.

“Grieving hearts, huh. Everyone grieves at time, Dad. If I can’t find a criminal who is grieving, I’ll take someone so riddled with grief that they plan to take their own life. There are ways to fulfill this duty without killing innocent people.”

“Nyx, if you decide to do this, you will be bound to the tree of selil prison. You will never be able to go more than a hundred miles from the tree. You won’t be able to travel like you wanted.”

“I know, but this is for the best. No one will be forced to bare this burden and unless Hobo Heart and C.C. die, I’ll be able to keep the seal in place forever.” Nyx smiled at Hobo Heart and C.C. “You two will just have to travel for me. If you ever come back to the area, I want to hear all about your travels.”

“There’s no talking you out of this, is there?”

“Nope, I’ve always stood behind my decisions and I always will, Dad.”

“Stubborn girl.”

“Not stubborn, just responsible. Now enough talking, we need to get these spirits sealed again.”

“We need the six sacrifices before we can start the ritual.”

“We’ll gather them for you, Nyx.” Everyone looked over at C.C. as she and Hobo Heart crossed to her side. “It’s the least we can do to thank you for everything you’ve done for us.”

“If that’s what you want to do, though I only did what I believe is right.”

“C.C., Reaper Bones and I will bring them here to you.”

“She needs to be the one to kill them.” Slender shook his head. “I will go with them and teleport the humans back once they knock them out.”

“Thanks Slender.”

“No need to thank me, Nyx. You were right that I should not have blamed Hobo Heart for abandoning the task that was forced on him as not even I would volunteer for this responsibility.” Slender laid a long, narrow hand on top of her head before leaving the prison with Hobo Heart, C.C. and Reaper Bones. Once they were alone, Thanatos pulled Nyx back into his arms.

“You never do things the easy way, Nyx, but I am proud of you.”

“The easy way isn’t always the right way, Dad. Cronos took the easy way and killed the goddess’s love and look where that lead.”

“You are much wiser than your years.”

“Well, dying over eight hundred times teaches you a lot.” Nyx laughed a bit before shaking her head. “Just promise me that you and the heralds will leave Hobo Heart and C.C. alone. I couldn’t bear it if they were hurt.”

“Alright, you win, sweetie. I’ll tell Slender that they are to be left alone to do as they please. Besides, you would know if they were hurt.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Nyx pulled away and sat down on the ground in the middle of the room. Thanatos shook his head and snapped his fingers. Two large, throne like chairs appeared. One was completely black and skulls decorated the ends of the arm rests as well as the top of the back rest. The other was almost identical, though in a blood red. Thanatos sighed as he settled into the black throne and gestured for Nyx to take the red one. “Thanks for the chairs, but you couldn’t leave the skulls off?”

“What did you expect? I’m death and you’re death’s daughter. Besides, they make a great impression when people see them.” Thanatos laughed as Nyx shook her head and moved to sit on the red throne. “I had hoped to give this to you when you finally decided to move into my palace, but since you’re staying here, this will serve as your throne room.”

“Dad, why would I need a throne room? I’m not a goddess or a queen.”

“Eh, you’re my daughter so that makes you a queen to me.” Nyx laughed and shook her head.

“Cheesy, Dad, really cheesy.” Thanatos smiled and just shrugged. He spent the hour wait telling stupid jokes and Nyx knew he was just being a goof so that she didn’t have to think about the ritual that was going to take place.

When Slender, Hobo Heart, C.C. and Reaper Bones teleported back into the room, Slender had six people wrapped in his tentacles. Three men and three women. He laid one unconscious person at the base of each pedestal near the tangle of roots before joining the others in the center of the room. Nyx and Thanatos stood up.

“Since none of my priests are present, you will have to cast the seal, Hobo Heart.” Thanatos looked over at the two Gemberlings. Hobo Heart nodded as he led Nyx to the first pedestal, just to the right of the entryway.

“You must take her heart and give it to the tree. Every month you will have to recite the same spell as you nourish the tree.” Hobo Heart hesitated for a second and Nyx could feel both his sorrow and his gratitude.

“Don’t worry, Hobo, as long as you’re happy, I’ll be happy.” She smiled up at him before kneeling next to the unconscious woman and taking her dagger out. “Let’s get this done.”

Hobo Heart nodded as she carefully cut into the woman’s chest. As soon as the blade pierced the woman’s skin, she woke up and tried to get away. Nyx quickly straddled the woman’s stomach and pinned her arms to her sides with her knees.

“Mwen mare ou nan lapenn, mwen mare ou nan san, mwen mare ou nan zo, mwen mare ou nan lanati, mwen mare ou nan lanmò, mwen mare ou nan Lespri Bondye. Lespri sa ki mal dòmi ak tounen vin jwenn Bondye fason mechan ou yo. Pa janm plis ap monte ak nofwaj tap fè ravaj sou vivan yo. Kòm lanmò kòmande, se sa k'ap rive.”

Nyx was careful and fast, not wanting to prolong the woman’s suffering. As soon as she had cut away enough flesh to reach the woman’s ribs she tore the a few of the woman’s ribs out. Blood splattered all over Nyx and the tangle of roots. The roots began to quiver as the blood soaked into them. Just as Hobo Heart finished chanting, Nyx pulled the still beating heart out of the woman. Nyx stood up as some of the smaller roots seemed to reach out for the heart and the larger roots began to wrap around the woman’s body.

Nyx held the heart out to the smaller roots and they seemed to cradle it as they took it from her hand. As the heart and body were wrapped in the roots, black flames burst to life in the first obsidian bowl, encasing the black, twisted heart.

One by one, Hobo Heart led Nyx to the sacrifices. Each time she started removing the heart, he would chant the same spell. By the time they had finished with the last sacrifice, Nyx was cover in blood. The six obsidian bowls on the six pedestals held the six twisted hearts encased in black flame. Hobo Heart lead Nyx to the center of the room and started chanting again.

“Sis bèt pou touye pou mare sis move lespri. Sis lavi tris pran pou ke lòt lavi pral fleri. Sis kè ak sis kò a vin mare sa ki mal ou yo. Sis lanmò nan sele sis move lespri ak yon sèl lavi nan sèvis nan nouri pyebwa ki bay prizon selilè. Kòm lanmò kòmande, se sa k'ap rive.

As he finished chanting, purple flames intertwined with the black flames and the obsidian bowls flowed like they were living vines, encasing the black and purple flames in a glistening black cage. Then Hobo Heart led Nyx back around the room a second time. They stopped at each pedestal and Hobo Heart used Nyx’s dagger to slice open her palm. He held her hand above each flaming cage and let her blood drip into the flames. Once the circle was complete he led her to the center of the room again and chanted one more time.

“Nyx va veye, Nyx pral sèvi, Nyx va nouri, chay sa a se pou li fè pou kont li. Atravè lanmò li pral persive lavi. Atravè sèvis ofrann bèt li pral sove. Pa san tache men l 'ap sele a rete. Kòm lanmò kòmande, se sa k'ap rive.”

The black and purple flames flared brighter and a blood red ruby skull formed at the top of each obsidian cage. White flames burned in the eye sockets of the skulls.

“When the white flames dim, you will need to replace the sacrifice. Some sacrifices last longer than others, so they will burn out at different times.” Thanatos wrapped his arm around Nyx’s shoulders. “This is now your burden to bear alone, Nyx. From now on, no one will be able to help you with this task.”

“I know, Dad.” Thanatos nodded as he kissed the top of her head before he and Slender teleported away. Nyx turned to look at Hobo Heart and C.C. “You two are finally free now.”

“Thank you, Nyx, for everything you’ve done for Hobo and I.” C.C. held out her hand and smiled when Nyx pulled her in for a hug.

“Take care of Hobo Heart and Reaper Bones for me and never doubt that he loves you.”

“I will and I promise we will visit you again.” Hobo Heart wrapped his arms around Nyx and C.C.

“You will always be special to me, Nyx and I’ll always care about you. I am sorry that I couldn’t learn to love you.” Nyx’s heart clenched, but she smiled and laughed a bit.

“The heart wants what it wants, Hobo. Just be happy and take care of each other. Now go on. You three have a life to start living.” They both nodded, stepped back and headed for the entryway.

Nyx walked with them to the entrance of the room. She waved and smiled as Hobo Heart, C.C. and Reaper Bones walked off into the forest. She kept smiling until she could no longer see them. Slowly, her hand dropped back to her side and as her smile slowly faded, tears started streaming down her face. She turned and walked slowly to her blood red throne and collapsed into the seat, silently sobbing as her heart shattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Hobo Heart became my favorite Creepypasta since I was first introduced to the story though Madam Macabre's YouTube video Heart Has Value (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDZS7vaG3gk). When I looked up the story behind the song, I fell in love with Chris Oz Fulton's (http://chrisozfulton.deviantart.com/) stories and amazing artwork. 
> 
> I was thrilled when he gave me permission to write a fanfiction using his characters. I hope you all enjoy my fanfiction and I am sorry if any of the characters seem OOC.   
> PS. I don't own any of the characters except for Nyx and Thanatos. All other characters belong to their respective creators.


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